Embers
by Euphemia Worthington
Summary: Reports of reanimated shinobi attacking villages that house kekkei genkai users prompts a mission to Orochimaru to gain insight on a forbidden jutsu. When the mission goes awry, paths cross that had previously drifted apart and dark glowing embers begin to burn bright once again. Adult content: swearing, lemons, mature themes and situations.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: So there may be some deviances from the anime in my story. The first is that Tsunade is still Hokage, I needed her sass to make this story work the way I wanted to.**

 **I don't own Naruto, nor will I ever. I hope you enjoy 3**

* * *

"Alright you three, take a seat. There have been reports of small villages being attacked by hoards of what are being described as 'undead ninja' that don't respond to normal attacks. 3 such attacks took place last night, and although it wasn't immediately apparent why they were targeting the villages that they did it's now glaringly obvious that each of these villages houses someone with a kekkei genkai that has now disappeared, all of whom being young females." Tsunade sighed before she continued, "With that being said, these reports point to the use of the edo tensei; however, these reanimations do not have souls. It is almost as though the corpses are reanimated but the consciousness is not. Orochimaru is the only known user of the edo tensei that is still alive, but he's denying any connection to these attacks. Unfortunately, we don't have anywhere else to start and Orochimaru isn't exactly forthcoming with any information about his jutsus."

"Okay, so what are you getting at here?" Sakura inquired, already annoyed at the mention of the snake's name.

"What I'm getting at, is that we first need to get as much information about the edo tensei as possible being that it is the closet know jutsu that can achieve such an effect. In order to fully understand what we are up against, we need to know the inner workings of it and furthermore how to release it. In the mean time, we are dispatching groups of shinobi to all known villages that house a clan with a kekkei genkai to be safe. We don't know right now if the young females are coincidence or not."

"And where exactly do you want us to get this information from?" Kiba asked hesitantly, already knowing where this conversation was headed.

"From the only person who would have such information. I need you to infiltrate Orochimaru's last known hideout and get whatever intel you can that will help us against these things. We've tried to contact Sasuke considering he knows quite a bit about the jutsu from his experience with it in the war, but we haven't heard from him in over two months. I've chosen the three of you because for one, you need a medic. That's where Sakura comes in. Two, you need a good tracker, where Kiba and Akamaru come in. And lastly, you need someone with a chakra signature that Orochimaru is not familiar with, and that's where Hinata comes in. She will also be the most adept at sneaking around in order to find information thanks to her Byakugan. Do you have any questions so far?" Tsunade prompted.

"Yes, just one. How do you honestly expect me to be within the vicinity of that snake and not wipe his existence from the face of the earth?" Sakura asked, entirely serious.

Although during the war Orochimaru helped the Allied Shinobi Forces to defeat Kaguya, his motives were decidedly impure. He knew that if Kaguya succeeded, there would never be a chance for him to inhabit Sasuke's body, which he thirsted so heavily for. Sakura was blatantly aware of this, and it still made her blood boil.

"I expect you to behave because you are a professional shinobi going on a professional mission to get information to help out our allies who we are in a professional contract with. Orochimaru has been in a contract of peace with the Leaf Village ever since the war and we have no reason to disrupt that relationship, especially over grudges that you refuse to let die," Tsunade carefully explained.

"That's such bullshit. You know that if he had the chance he would take Sasuke's body right from him and not think twice about it!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Well then it's a good thing 'Sasuke-kun' is the second strongest ninja on the face of this earth, then isn't it? He wouldn't have any issues stepping on such a puny snake and rendering it useless" Tsunade deadpanned.

Kiba and Hinata let out small chuckles at that. A blush began to creep over Sakura's face, realizing that she was being irrational because of her feelings.

"If you don't have a retort to that, allow me to finish briefing you on the mission at hand," Tsunade looking down at the mission file, "you are to leave tomorrow at dawn. It will take you approximately two days of traveling at a steady pace to reach the hideout. You will be staying in Tenzen, a town approximately 50 miles west of the hideout's known location. Once you arrive, take the evening to settle in and prepare for the next day. Hinata, you will need to prepare a henge for this mission, just to err on the safe side. It would be wise to ready that prior to your departure. Sakura can work with you this evening in order to help you with the control of your chakra so that you don't tip of any sensory ninja Orochimaru may have on hand. Do you have any questions?"

"No, Tsunade-sama," all three shinobi chimed.

"Very well, get some rest tonight, you have a long journey ahead of you. You are dismissed"

Sakura dug into the innocent grass next to her with a kunai. After the mission briefing, she decided she needed some air. Hinata agreed to meet her at training grounds 5 in an hour, but she needed time before that to gather herself so she went there immediately following. She lost her cool, something she's been vehemently working over over the years… although she was fiery at heart and was definitely easier said than done.

It had been well over a year since Sasuke left on his "mission" to find peace within himself. Even though he said a proper goodbye this time, the ache in her chest whenever she thought about him was just as prominent as the last time he left the village. This posed another predicament for her as well, while all of their friends were getting into serious relationships and begging to settle down, she couldn't bring herself to even entertain the idea with Sasuke out of the village.

He hadn't given her any reason to believe that he would ever fully return to the village or settle down with anyone for that matter, let alone her. But that's how unrequited love worked. It was a fickle beast, one not easily overcome by rationality.

She couldn't help the fact that every time someone mentioned his name, her ears automatically perked up and her heart beat a little faster. She couldn't help how anytime someone around the village whispered negatively about him under their breath when she and Naruto walked by that she had to fight the urge to pummel their faces in.

After 7 years of being in love with someone, these things become second nature.

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became for their mission. She and Hinata had become much closer now that her and Naruto are openly together. She was looking forward to getting to spend some time away from the village with her (i.e. away from Naruto's prying ears). Kiba has always been like a brother to them, so this would be a comfortable mission with good friends. Something she always looked forward to.

Hinata's chakra signature caught Sakura's attention, and she saw the girl approach the spot where she sat on the grass from the edge of the clearing. Sakura waved, and Hinata returned the gesture.

Once HInata reached where she sat on the ground, the girl joined her.

"How are you doing?" HInata asked, knowing that her little outburst in Tsunade's office would weigh on her friend's mind.

"Oh I'm fine, just in the process of mentally kicking myself in the face for the 300th time and making sure I wedge my foot so far in my mouth that I can't ever speak again," Sakura sulked.

Hinata giggled. "Oh it wasn't that bad. I just know how you feel about other's thinking of Sasuke as a weakness for you, especially Tsunade."

Hinata was right. Over the years, Sakrua had easily became the strongest kunoichi in the village, physically speaking of course. She had worked very hard to bring her mental strength up to par as well, and she succeeded in every area but Sasuke. Something that Tsunade was very well aware of. That irked her, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to detach her emotions from the man who seemed to be the root of all her issues, even thousands of miles away.

"You're right. I don't know why I can't bring myself to let go of him and move on. I deserve to be happy, I deserve to be loved; moreover, I deserve a man who will be there for me like Naruto is for you or Sai is for Ino. But yet here I am, attaching myself to this delusion that one day Sasuke will return and I'll fling myself into his arms and he will carry me into the sunset where we will quickly get started repopulating the Uchiha clan," Sakura sighed.

Hinata couldn't help but to laugh, that mental picture was just too much. "Don't beat yourself up over such a silly thing. Your loyalty is something to be admired and you can't help the way you feel. It's better to be honest with yourself about your emotions than to lie to yourself and pretend they don't exist. In all reality, it is very mature of you," Hinata finished as she offered her friend a warm smile.

Sakura smiled too, finding Hinata's earnest nature to be contagious. She stood up, offering her hand to the girl next to her, "Now what to do say we work on this henge you need to perfect by nightfall?"

Sakura had a hard time falling asleep that night. She and Hinata worked on chakra control and holding a henge until well after the sun had set. Her mind kept drifting back to their conversation. Hinata had mentioned that acknowledging her feelings was the mature thing to do, and she felt like the next step was to no longer let them hold her back. Sasuke was not coming back anytime soon, and Sakura had never even been kissed. Maybe it was time to finally let someone to help lessen the burden of such a lonely life. She had plenty of great friends, sure; however, they were all in serious relationships and couldn't be bothered to be with her at all times. There was always Kakashi, but he's so engrossed in his perverted fiction that you might as well consider it a serious relationship.

She finally drifted to sleep with the content conviction to move on from Sasuke. Tomorrow was a new day and a new Sakura, or so she hoped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I wanted to get the first couple of chapters up in quick succession so I could work out any plot holes that popped up as I progressed with where I wanted the story to go. Thank you for those of you that have read and reviewed, this is my first story in a long time. I deleted all of my old ones because the writing is just cringe worthy, might as well start fresh. Feel free to give me some constructive criticism, it helps me help you!**

 **I'll probably put songs up for the chapter's in which I had a specific song in mind while writing. For this chapter, the song that I had imagined playing in the club was "The Future" by Bassnectar. It's got a deep seductive beat, I felt like it fit the scene well.**

 **As always, I don't own Naruto nor will I ever. Thanks for reading :)**

* * *

The morning of their mission, Sakura was just finishing putting the last of her supplies into her pack when she heard a knock at her door. The door opened shortly afterwards, and there were only two people who had the balls to enter her apartment without her answering the door first.. the flash of yellow prior to being engulfed in a bone crushing hug confirmed her suspicions.

"Awe Sakura-chan what am I going to do with you AND Hinata gone on this mission… that's like 100% of my friend group!" Naruto pouted.

"Nonsense," Sakura state as she pulled from his embrace and turned to face him, "You have Kakashi sensei AND Sai!"

"Which is basically the same thing as hanging out with a plank of wood and the villages number one pervert. I'm going to die," He exclaimed as he fell on to her bed.

Sakura stifled a giggle at her friend's expense. Naruto's flair for drama had not diminished much with age. "You will be fine, Naruto. We will be gone for two weeks, tops. That's not all that long. In the meantime, you can work with Tsunade-sama on your future Hokage duties and maybe work on your coping skills while you're at it," she said pointedly.

Naruto pretended not to hear her. "I guess I can use the opportunity to train more so that whenever Sasuke comes back I'm still able to kick his ass. I've been spending so much time with Hinata that I've been skimping on my training regimen."

Sakura's heart sped up at the mention of his name, much to her chagrin. She fell silent as she let herself succumb to the melancholy that consumed her whenever she thought about the boy she had spent so much time loving. Naruto picked up on his friend's shift in mood, and immediately tried to change the subject.

"So what time do you guys have to leave? I'll walk with you to the Hyuuga residence to get Hinata that way I can say a proper goodbye to my two favorite kunoichi!"

"We leave in an hour. Plenty of time to meet up with Hinata," she allowed herself to smile despite her recently soured mood.

"Great, let's get going! Last one there has to buy the other ramen when you guys get back!"

* * *

As they walked to the Hyuuga residence in a comfortable silence, Sakura had plenty of time to think about her conversation with Hinata last night. She was honestly exhausted with letting Sasuke affect her so easily when she hadn't seen him or heard from him in over a year. It was high time that she moved on.

She'd pondered the possibility of falling in love with someone else, and it was a weird feeling. Spending so long infatuated with one person brought no closure so making the decision to move on was cathartic. She was doing this for herself. She was going to go on this mission and face her fears, handle it like a professional, and return to the village a new woman.

I mean, easier said than done. But it sounded good in her head.

They arrived at Hinata's family compound to find her waiting outside for them, ready to leave for the mission. Naruto swooped her into a hug much like he had Sakura, but the gentle way in which he regarded Hinata and how his eyes lingered on her face quickly made their interaction much more intimate. Sakura felt the need to look away just to give them some privacy, and the inherently shy Hinata began to blush.

"N-naruto-kun, not in front of the compound! The elders would not approve of such public displays of affection!"

"Sorry Hinata-chan, I'm just going to miss you so much!" Naruto whined.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at her friend's desperation. It was nice to see how they interacted together. She was so happy that Naruto finally realized his feelings for Hinata and that he finally returned the adoration she had held for him for so long. She was definitely a little envious, being that this situation is exactly how she wanted her and Sasuke to work out. She was too good of a friend to resent them for this, though. She was, at the heart of all her feelings, genuinely happy for them. They worked together very well, much like a real-life yin and yang.

The group started towards the gates, making good time. Naruto and Hinata chatted about how much fun this mission would be for her being that she was the one trusted to infiltrate the hideout and she also got to test out the henge she had spent so much time on. Apparently after she went home last night she had continued to practice until her chakra began to dip to levels that she wouldn't be able to recover with a good night's rest.

As they came upon the gates, Kiba was waiting with Tsunade and Kakashi. It had become normal practice for Kakashi to wish any of his former students farewell as they left for missions. It was nice to know that he still cared for them now as much as he did when he was their sensei.

"Alright, any last-minute questions before you depart?" Tsunade inquired.

The trio shook their heads in unison and Tsunade smiled. "Good. Now be careful and good luck, be sure to check in if this mission goes on to take more than two weeks. I don't think you'll have any issues, but it's always better to prepare for the worst."

And with that, the newly formed team walked out of the gates and towards the promise of an interesting mission and what Sakura hoped to be a cathartic experience.

* * *

The group traveled at a consistent speed and carried on pleasant conversation, Akamaru barking in agreement occasionally. Once the sun started to set, they searched for a place to set up camp. They ate a quick meal and settled into sleep with Akamaru taking his place right outside the tent.

The sun rose and they made haste to set out once again, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. They didn't run into anyone during their travels, something they were thankful for. They were all anxious to make good time on this mission considering the impending attacks were bound to happen any day now. At least the villages have the dispatched shinobi to protect them in that case.

They arrived in Tenzen shortly before the sun had set and made their way to the Inn that Tsunade had directed them to stay in. It was quaint, boasting a unique charm. It was an older building that stood out among the relatively newer architecture of the town. Sakura figured the reason this Inn was chosen was for that fact alone; they obviously had no issue housing Akamaru and she was sure some of the nicer hotels would not be so accommodating. As the group walked in, they gave their names and received their rooms. Hinata and Sakura were to share a room with two beds, while Kiba and Akamaru got their own room.

Upon entering the room, the girls were pleasantly surprised.. It was inviting, the two beds looking much more appealing than their sleep sacks that they had slept in last night. They laid their packs on the ground and wasted no time falling onto the mattresses.

"Oh man, this is a pleasant surprise. I thought for sure this was going to be some washed up Inn in a small dingy town. I didn't expect Tenzen to be such a big city," Sakura stated.

Hinata nodded in agreement. "I felt the same way. That gives us something to do tonight instead of being cooped up in here all night before we head to the hideout tomorrow!"

"Oh yeah, I could go for a delicious warm meal right about now..." Sakura trailed off, suddenly very aware of how hungry she was. The brisk pace that they traveled at had taken its toll.

"For sure! Let's let Kiba know and see if he wants to tag along," Hinata bubbled as she got up to ask her former teammate.

"Okay, I'm going to hop in the shower real quick while you're gone."

And with that Sakura was left alone in the room. She made her way over to the bathroom with fresh clothes in hand. She's glad that she grabbed some halfway decent looking street clothes, if she would have grabbed her more shoddy outfits she would have stuck out like a sore thumb in this upbeat town (not that she didn't ever stick out with pink hair, though.)

She turned the shower on to the hottest setting and set about peeling her dirty clothes from her body. She then proceeded to undo the braid she had in her hair done in. She'd continued growing it out once Sasuke left the village and it now fell midway down her back. She honestly preferred having it long so that she could better keep it out of her face while she was at work and on missions. She stepped into the shower and relished as the hot water washed all remnants of dirt and sweat away. She allowed herself to stand under the water longer than she normally would, enjoying the opportunity to relax before what would undoubtedly be a tense infiltration of Orochimaru's hideout; she could only imagine the apprehension Hinata was feeling.

After she was dressed she exited the bathroom to find that Kiba had done the same, and Hinata took her turn to follow suit. Once the trio was freshly groomed, the asked the Inn keeper where the best place to eat was and they were directed to a restaurant called Momo's where they sold the best tempura in town (Sakura could hardly contain her excitement let alone her hunger.) As they made their way through the town, Sakura eyed the array of shops, restaurants, and other businesses that this town housed. It was bustling with movement and excitement especially being that this was a Saturday.

When they arrived to the restaurant Akamaru made himself comfortable outside the building as they proceeded to go inside. The pretty hostess let them know that it would be a 20-minute wait and took Sakura's name down. They took seats in the waiting area and made small talk about the new surroundings they found themselves in. It seemed that while Sakura and Hinata had paid most attention to the shops, Kiba had wasted no time in noticing the overwhelming population of beautiful women. Once he pointed it out, however, it became glaringly obvious just how right he was.

It seemed as though every single waitress at this restaurant could work as a full time, well-paid model. Sakura immediately felt more self-conscious, once again mentally thanking herself for packing her nicer clothes.

"What the hell is this, make-Sakura-feel-bad-about-herself-ville," Sakura sulked.

"Nonsense Sakura-chan, you are every bit as beautiful as the women you're comparing yourself to. You just don't see it," Hinata smiled.

Easy for her to say. Puberty did Hinata all sorts of favors in all the right places. She had the hourglass figure that Sakura had always longed for and a classic sort of beauty that seemed to fit every man's tastes. Naruto was more lucky than he realized, and the fact that it took him so long to reciprocate her friend's feelings was pretty outlandish.

"Hinata, you're just as obnoxiously gorgeous as these women. If my hair wasn't pink, not a single man would even bother to spare me a second glance."

Kiba, who had been very quiet while listening to their back and forth, finally interjected. "No Sakura, Hinata is right. You're every bit as gorgeous as these other women. In fact, it is because of your unique features that you are honestly better looking. Not to mention you're a kick-ass kunoichi, which only takes the hotness up like twenty more notches."

The earnest manner in which he easily complimented her made her blush, "Thanks Kiba. That's sweet of you to say."

"Haruno party of 3, your table is ready!" The hostess motioned for them to follow and led them to a small booth in the corner of the large dining area. The place was packed, alluding to just how good the food must be.

"Oh man, this is what dreams are made of," Sakura sighed as she scanned the menu, finding several of her favorite dishes. "I don't even know where to begin!"

"Their menu is pretty extensive, I'm also having a hard time deciding," Hinata agreed.

They ordered a round of drinks, one of the best perks of finally being 21. Sakura's tolerance was basically nonexistent, so she was sure to pace herself (at least, she tried to pace herself). 5 drinks later and a belly full of tempura, Sakura was in a good mood to say the least. Hinata hadn't drank at all, but Kiba took part in the fun along with Sakura.

As the group got up to leave the restaurant, the full force of Sakura's lack of sobriety hit her and she wobbled on her feet a little bit. "Oh man, this should be interesting," she giggled as she tugged on Kiba's arm to balance herself.

"You've got that right," he said as a deep chuckle echoed in his chest. Sakura couldn't quite place her reaction to that, but it made her feel warm. Weird.

As they walked down the streets, Sakura continued to hold onto Kiba's arm to support herself. The boy didn't mind at all, casting sideways glances at her to make sure she was okay. Kiba was decidedly better at handling his alcohol than she was, he was also much bigger than she was so she was going to credit his stability to that. They passed a large bar that had drawn a large crowd. Loud music filtered through the air and caught Sakura's attention and in her drunken stupor she made the executive decision that she wanted to go dancing, something she had never done before.

"OOOoOOHHHH, guys, can we please go in? Even just for a little bit! I've never been to a club before," that last part came out a little whiny, and she internally cringed at herself.

"I'm going to head back to the Inn to practice my henge one last time and get some rest, so you and Kiba go on ahead! This actually works out better so I can practice in privacy. Be safe in whatever you do tonight!" Hinata smiled as she rushed off towards the Inn. Sakura couldn't help but think the girl had ulterior motives.

"Well, shall we?" Kiba grinned at her as he motioned towards the club. An overly excitable Sakura was only much too happy to oblige as he led her into the cluster of lights, music, bodies, and alcohol. Once inside the club, Sakura's senses were overwhelmed by a slow, seductive beat and dim red lighting. As they rounded the corner of the entry hallway, her senses were overwhelmed with a whole new set of visuals: they were in a strip club.

Sakura couldn't help but blush at the sight of lithe feminine forms working on each of the three poles positioned on the center stage. A large staircase led up to a second floor from the stage, presumably where the dancers entered on and off. As much as she knew this was inappropriate, she couldn't take her eyes away. If she had thought the women at the restaurant were beautiful, then these women were goddesses. Kiba, while initially taken aback, gauged Sakura's reaction in order to decide how to proceed. He was pleased to find that she was entranced by what she saw, as opposed to being repulsed as he had thought she would be.

Sakura pulled her gaze away to look at Kiba, who she had completely forgotten about.

"Do you want to leave?" Kiba asked her.

"Oh most definitely not, what I do want is another drink!" She excitedly told him as she pulled him towards the bar. This trip was about getting out of her comfort zone, and she was enjoying her time with Kiba. They had not really spent a whole lot of time together up to this point. She was just going to go with the flow.

Kiba obliged and followed the girl to the bar. "We'll take two peach sakes please." Sakura moved to grab her purse, but Kiba stopped her by placing his hand on her wrist. "My treat," he said as he offered her a warm smile. She was struck with an intrusive thought at that very moment as the warmth she felt earlier returned: he was handsome. She never noticed before, but the angles of his strong features had sharpened with age and for whatever reason, she really like the red markings on his face. Did she never notice because she was too hung up on Sasuke? Well, she decided, she was a fool. Because he was damn good looking.

Deciding to completely wipe the reason she never noticed her attraction to Kiba from her mind, she graciously accepted the drink from Kiba before pulling him to sit in one of the booths. She selected one that was close to the stage, despite a wary glance from her companion.

"You know that the closer you sit the more likely they are to interact with you, right?" Kiba warned.

"Exactly," Sakura practically purred, feeling overly confident with the help of the liquid courage she was ingesting.

Kiba just blanked. Who was this person he was with and what did they do to the Sakura he knew? Granted he had not had many conversations with the girl prior to this, as far as he knew she had never even kissed someone (at least he assumed considering she had never shown any interest in dating). Now here she was, all bright eyed and watching other women writhe on poles as though their lives depended on it. And he'd be damned if he didn't think he was the luckiest man in the world for getting to experience this.

After the current song ended, another began and the three women on stage descended into the crowd while three new ones took the stage. Sakura had picked her favorite in the middle of the last song, settling on watching the voluptuous raven haired women that had been center stage right in front of them. She wasn't much taller than Sakura, but the high heels she was in made her a good 4 inches taller. Her pale skin contrasted wonderfully with the bright red ensemble she adorned: red lace that barely covered her most intimate places. Her long dark hair fell to her waist in lush waves, bouncing and catching the reflections of the red lights that shone down. Kiba didn't waste any time getting the woman's attention as she moved towards them, quickly getting his money ready.

"What are you doing?" Sakura worriedly asked him in a hushed tone.

"Getting you a taste of what you want but are too afraid to ask for," he teased.

"How can I help you, handsome?" the dancer asked.

"Oh, not me. My friend here. She would love a dance from you," Kiba stated as a mischievous grin adorned his features.

Sakura blushed, but her newfound drunken personality welcomed the challenge from her friend. She knew that he had a hidden agenda in arranging this dance, and she was more than happy to indulge him. It brought on a strange sense of challenge to give this man exactly what he was looking for, maybe even a little bit beyond that.

"This pretty little thing? Don't mind if I do, my pleasure in fact," the woman stated as she made her way over to Sakura and used the tip of her shoe to push the rolling chair Sakura was sat in away from the table. Intrigued, she watched the dancer carefully, not really sure what to expect here but keeping up the façade she was giving Kiba.

"My name's Rose, what's your name honey?" the dancer inquired as she moved to straddle Sakura's waist.

"Uh… Sakura," she finally managed, only VERY distracted by the woman's breasts in her face and the way her body was gyrating against her own.

"How fitting, you're the very epitome of spring," she purred as she leaned into her ear, continuing her ministrations. Kiba couldn't believe how quickly this mission became the favorite that he had ever been on. The dancer was arguably one of the most attractive women he had ever seen, he could agree that Sakura had good taste. The sight of her dancing on Sakura was unbelievably erotic, and he was thankful that the lighting in the club was dim to hide the evidence of his arousal.

It appeared as though he wasn't the only one appreciating the view, as several other men in the club were as well. He couldn't blame them, but he also couldn't help the overprotective pang of jealously he felt upon the realization that he wasn't the only one who got to witness this.

Sakura handled the dance like a champ, allowing herself to admire the woman's body. It wasn't that she was attracted to the woman, but she could most definitely appreciate her beauty and skill. As the dancer finished her work on Sakura, Kiba slid the money into her garter, grinning from ear to ear.

"Thanks Rose, we appreciate it," he said kindly.

"No problem. Hope to see you here more often," she said as she winked and walked away, immediately getting swooped up by another group on men.

Sakura reached for her drink, trying her best to remain calm and collected despite of the events that had just transpired. She rolled her chair back over to their table.

"So, what did you think?" Kiba inquired.

"That was amazing," she said honestly. "She was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and that dance was an experience I won't ever forget."

"I agree," Kiba mused, while heatedly watching her take a drink. His gaze made her blush once again, losing that façade she was trying so hard to keep up.

"So, want to go dance?" She asked, trying to change the subject. "I want to keep this path of 'firsts' going!"

Kiba obliged, happy to be along for the ride. Sakura finished her drink and grabbed his before he could stop her, downing the rest of it as well. She smiled before grabbing his hand and leading him to the other side of the club to the dancefloor.

The song was upbeat with a deep base line throughout it. She follow the example of those around her and positioned herself in front of Kiba, grinding into him in time with the beat. He didn't miss a beat, placing his hands on her hips and allowing her to set the pace. She was enjoying this, the attention he was giving her only fueled her courage, driving her to do things she wouldn't normally do. She did what came naturally, allowing her arms to come up and her hands to weave into his hair. A deep groan came from his throat, and Sakura's belly flushed with that warmth that she had become acquainted with today.

Her effect on him was apparent, evidence of that fact was poking into her back currently. Instead of being put-off as she normally would, the combination of alcohol and the determination to forget about the raven-haired boy drove her to be much more bold than usual. She moved to turn around, keeping her arms around his neck.

Kiba had a hungry look in his eyes, his gaze clouded with lust. Before she knew it, his lips crushed themselves to hers. She was surprised at first, but wasted no time returning the kiss, allowing herself to relish in the softness of his lips and the lingering taste of sake on them.

No sooner had she began to reciprocate the kiss, the fire alarm went off in the club and the sprinkler system kicked on, effectively knocking her from the wonderful cloud of sensations she was previously in.

"Please calmly evacuate the club, the sprinkler system has been triggered but no fire has been found. This appears to be a fluke, but we want to be safe. The exits are marked on the north and south ends of the building" the DJ announced.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle, this night was full of firsts alright.

"As much as I hate it, we should probably go back to the Inn. We have an early day tomorrow," Kiba stated all the while offering her that handsome smile she had grown to crave.

"Mhmm, I agree," she said as she allowed herself to be led through the crowd.

As they exited, both of them were too distracted to notice the raven-haired man who stood against the balcony on the second level, his eyes never leaving the couple and a palpable rage enveloping his aura.


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke sat in his usual booth at the club he's been regularly frequenting since he left Konoha to "find himself." He found himself alright, in several different women from several different towns on several different occasions.

Prior to his departure from the Leaf, he spent a lot of time with his former team. There was a lot of catching up to do seeing as how all three of them wanted to know every facet of Sasuke's adventures during his absence. He gave a general overview, never one to be so forthcoming with information and anecdotes about himself.

Something else had happened during his time in the village: he started to get attached. He grew comfortable with his routine, comfortable with allowing his most precious people back into his life, and most importantly comfortable with a certain pink-haired woman's company. He never let on to it, but he felt it nonetheless. Sakura had grown; she was mature, she was beautiful, she was intelligent, and she was the best kunoichi the village had ever seen.

That's really the reason he left. He wasn't ready to face these feelings. He had spent so long on his own, keeping everyone at arm's length (his previous teammates even further than that.) He was wary of how quickly they all accepted him back in their lives. He had tried to kill each on them on numerous occasions, even. He wasn't so immune to feelings to know that there had to be some sort of grudge being held from all his treasonous actions in the past. Granted, they had all understood his reasons for doing what he did. It didn't ease his mind any less.

He had only just begun to let his friends see the parts of himself that he had hidden since the Uchiha massacre prior to his departure from the village the first time, his final decision to leave fueled by many of the same feelings he was harboring now. The only difference was, he had attained the power he sought and killed his brother now. Now he was just running from his feelings simply because he was selfish.

He hadn't responded to any of Konoha's attempts at contact in a while, he would have to eventually before they sent someone after him and labeled him a rogue ninja again. He had fallen into a bit of a routine in Tenzen, the town that he had been spending the last month in. There was plenty to keep himself occupied with, and the women were visually pleasing. He looked at this as a vacation of sorts, one he knew he would have to end soon. He had enjoyed this brief period of mindless drinking and sex, it took his mind off Sakura if even only for a second. Whatever he felt for the girl, it was becoming harder and harder to push from his mind the longer he was away from the village. This was probably what it was like to miss someone, but he refused to admit it.

If he were normal he would want to be with her as much as possible to ensure that her feelings for him wouldn't fade; however, because of his unwillingness to accept his own feelings, his solution was to be as far away as possible for as long as possible. Rather illogical for a man who considered himself to be extremely intelligent. To be honest, the main reason he didn't worry about Sakura's feelings fading even while he was gone was because she had been in love with him for years now, why would that change over the course of the last year?

Sasuke downed another shot and watched his favorite girl do what she does best. Rose was stunning and the most popular girl at the club, which was saying something because all the women here were far above average looks wise. The women had gravitated towards Sasuke the very first night he found himself at the club, instantly taking to him because of his looks. Sasuke wasn't dumb, he knew that women found him attractive. They had ever since he was young, the only difference now is that he had no problem using it to his advantage to get what he wanted. He and Rose had been exclusive since he came to this town, something the other women here were envious of. Despite their attempts to see if what Rose was saying about him were true, he didn't have any interest in having more than one partner in this town. Rose more than fulfilled his needs. Her submissive nature made her the perfect partner for him.

The song that was currently playing ended and Rose made he way off the stage and into the crowd where a man caught her attention within seconds and beckoned her over. It took Sasuke a second in his current state to recognize who the man was, partly because of the alcohol and partly due to that fact that he wasn't expecting to see anyone he knew; he hadn't in the weeks that he had been in this town.

Kiba. Why was he here?

Rose was standing in front of whoever he was with, and it became apparent that Kiba had gotten Rose's attention so that she would give his companion a dance. Interesting. Sasuke strained to see who he was with, and the sight of long pink hair made his entire body stiffen.

Impossible. It couldn't be her. She wouldn't be somewhere like this, especially with Kiba. He couldn't make any logical deductions as to why they would be here together so far form Konoha. Was he that drunk? That was also impossible. He may have had several drinks, but Sasuke never drank so much that he couldn't control his actions, let alone begin to hallucinate.

He continued to watch the scene below him unfold, intrigued by the situation. Rose pushed Sakura's chair back and proceeded to give her a lap dance. Sasuke just about lost it there. He was immediately envious of Kiba's view of this scene, because he could only see the back of Rose's body and hardly nothing of Sakura's. Which only brought him back to his original question: what in the hell were they doing here together? Why would Kiba be buying her a lap dance? Why would Sakura be taking part in the lap dance? None of it really made sense, it felt surreal.

Rose finished her work and Kiba stuck his payment into her garter. Rose said something to the pair as she made her way further onto the floor, but Sasuke was no longer paying attention. His eyes were glued to Sakura, the dim red lights flattering her every feature. The first thing he took note of is that she had grown her hair out, it fell long and straight down her back. She wore a red Japanese style shirt that was longer in the back than the front, where it showed off her toned midsection and navel coupled with a pair of white pants that cut off at her ankle. She looked stunning, and Sasuke decided that the only reason he came to that conclusion so easily was that he hadn't seen her in so long and that he was inebriated.

Sakura finished her drink and then downed Kiba's, saying something to him before pulling him to the dance floor. They looked comfortable together, the thought made Sasuke's stomach tighten with an unfamiliar feeling. He stood up from the booth he was in and walked over to the balcony of the second floor to keep his eyes on the couple.

They had made their way to the dancefloor and Sakura was intimately grinding on Kiba, putting her hands in his hair and swaying her hips to the beat. Sasuke was fortunate that he decided to leave his drink at the table, because he would have surely shattered the glass by now.

What happened next, Sasuke was entirely unprepared for. Sakura turned around and Kiba wasted no time taking her lips with his own. Sasuke did the thing that came to his mind first to stop the events transpiring before him without making himself known. He quickly formed the signs for the fireball jutsu and set the fire alarms off, activating the sprinkler system.

The DJ came over the speaker system and made an announcement, but Sasuke was too distracted to pay him any mind. He was too busy watching the couple make their way from the club, hand in hand.

He was livid.

* * *

Later that night in his hotel room, Sasuke was taking his frustrations out on the female form beneath him. Where he would normally take his time to pleasure the women he allowed in his bed thoroughly before taking them, he had no such patience tonight.

As soon as Rose had entered the room, he ordered her to disrobe and get on the bed. Rose never questioned his requests, always happy to oblige. He made his way over to her, flipped her over so that she had to support her weight with her hands and knees, and grabbed a fistful of her long dark hair. He used his other hand to free himself from his pants before burying his entire length inside her without warning.

Rose moaned in surprise, not accustomed to him being so rough. He quickly pulled all the way back out before slamming himself back in, earning another moan from her. He found a steady rhythm in no time, filling her to the brim over and over. He could feel her beginning to tighten around him, so he picked up the pace to send her over the edge. She cried out as she rhythmically spasmed around him, her juices trickling down her thigh.

Sasuke wasn't done yet, oh no. He needed to feel nothing tonight, he needed to be numb.

He released Rose's hair as moved into a sitting position, grabbing Rose and moving her so that she was positioned on top and facing away from him. He laid back, considering the wonderful view he had and pushing away the thought that he wished he was looking at pink hair instead of black.

"Ride it," he managed to grind out, ready to push that thought from his mind.

She positioned him at her entrance and lowered herself onto him. She was so wet from her previous orgasm, and Sasuke took note of the fact that even when he wasn't actively trying to please the woman it happened anyways.

Rose was skilled at what she did, her experience in exotic dancing meant she was a pro at riding. She moved her hips in all the right ways, repeatedly pushing him inside of her until he was completely sheathed inside of her. Her moans permeated the room, and Sasuke was nearing his release as he released a deep groan. Picking up on his state, she picked up the pace and Sasuke couldn't hold back anymore. He sat up so that her back was flush with his strong, muscular chest. He grabbed her hair again and he was overcome with the mental image of a certain pink haired woman on top of him. Growling at this, he pulled her head back and capturing her mouth with his as he thrusted his hips into her, releasing his load as he was overcome with waves of mind numbing ecstasy, the thought of Sakura never leaving his mind despite his best efforts.

* * *

Sasuke couldn't sleep that night after Rose left. He didn't really know where to go from here. He assumed Kiba and Sakura were here on a mission, but the fact that they were together like that caught him off-guard. He knew why he was so upset, Sakura was his. Even if she didn't know it and even if he never made it apparent, he still felt that way. To see her interact with another man in the ways that he had tried so hard not to think about made his blood boil.

Rationally, he knew he couldn't be mad. He didn't tell Sakura to wait for him, he never let on that he was interested in anything other than friendship. His fear of commitment once again getting in the way. Now he was kicking himself in the face for it. Of course Sakura had no problem waiting all of the previous years for him, she hadn't peaked yet as a woman. Men probably still thought of her as the Sasuke-crazed fan girl with unrequited love for him.

Now, though, she had all the sex appeal and command that she would ever need. It was clear than men in the village were noticing and Kiba just happened to be lucky enough to catch her attention. How long had they been together? How far had they gone?

These were things Sasuke could think about all he wanted, but he wouldn't have answers unless he went directly to the source. If he wanted to know why they were in Tenzen, he would have to respond to one of Tsunade's unopened correspondences.

Cursing under his breath, he walked over to the desk in the room where a stack of letters sat. He would have to cut this little vacation off shorter than he initially planned. This whole situation just kept getting more annoying. Funny how Sakura still managed to have that effect on him.

Taking the most recent letter and opening it, Sasuke carefully skimmed its contents. Ah, so they were her on a mission. Apparently they needed information on edo tensei and were going to infiltrate Orochimaru's hideout to get the information since he denied any implication in the events as well as refusing to help.

He felt a pang of guilt; the only reason Kiba and Sakura were ever here in this town, on this mission, and in that club together was because Sasuke was too self-absorbed in his little vacation to answer any of Tsunade's letters.

"Fuck."

He knew the inner workings of edo tensei, he had the answers to Tsunade's questions. He quickly transcribed all of the knowledge he had on the jutsu down before summoning a carrier bird to deliver the note to Tsunade.

Now he just had to stop Sakura's team before they so foolishly tried to steal information from Orochimaru.

He set out to find hotels that would accommodate dogs, and a rather large one at that. He definitely wasn't looking forward to this reunion.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: I don't own Naruto. If I did lots of sexy things would happen on a regular basis. Enjoy :)**

* * *

Sakura woke up the next morning and the first sensation she was hit with was the splitting headache she had. The second sensation was the warm chest that she had been laying on. The full force of what happened the night before came crashing back, and she immediately blushed. After they arrived back at the Inn, Sakura asked if she could sleep in Kiba's room so that she didn't wake Hinata up in her drunken state. Sakura ended up falling asleep as soon as she laid down, and apparently she decided to cuddle up to Kiba in her sleep.

Something seemed off, however, as the sun was much further in the sky than she knew it should be. They were supposed to set out for Orochimaru's hideout at the break of dawn. With that realization, she shot up in bed, waking Kiba in the process.

"What's wrong?"

"It's late. We should have left for the mission hours ago," she stated.

She got out of bed and quickly threw the door open so that she could head over to her and Hinata's room, but nothing could have prepared her for what she found behind the door.

Sasuke.

She thought she might be dreaming. This couldn't be right. She moved to pinch the skin on her arm painfully, earning a questioning look from the man in front of her. Nope, definitely not dreaming. There he was in front of her, all angles and dark features against pale skin. He wore the same outfit that he wore when Naruto, Yamato, and Sai had found him the first time after he first left the village, how fitting.

Wondering what froze Sakura in her tracks at the door and had Akamaru sniffing the air, Kiba made his way over to the doorway to see the last person he expected or wanted to see.

"Sasuke, funny seeing you here. What do we owe this wonderful coincidence to?" Kiba asked, a slight annoyance in his voice.

Sasuke didn't immediately respond. His eyes taking in Sakura and Kiba's undoubtedly disheveled appearance, coupled with the fact that they were in the same room together. "I got a letter from the Hokage about the attacks and the disappearances of kekkei genkai users. I gave her the information she needed and figured I should stop you guys before you needlessly infiltrated Orochimaru's hideout."

"Ah, how kind of you. You kind of caught us at a bad time, we were in the middle of something," Kiba said pointedly.

Sakura, who had been too stunned to say anything, broke her eyes from Sasuke to look at the ground, finding that she couldn't make eye contact. "No, that's not true. I was just on my way to my and Hinata's room, actually."

"No one answered when I knocked. This room was not my first choice in contacting your group," Sasuke said as he shot a glance towards Kiba.

Kiba smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes. "Awe, we missed you too Sasuke. Didn't we Akamaru?"

Akamaru just tilted his head.

Sakura quickly moved past Sasuke and into the hallway, wanting to break the tension between the men. There was too much going on right now, she needed to focus on what really mattered at the moment, and that was Hinata. "I wonder why she didn't answer. Something isn't right here."

Sakura pulled her room key out and entered the room to find it hadn't been touched since they left last night to go to dinner.

"She never came home last night…" Sakura trailed off. She felt unbelievably guilty. Her friend had gone missing last night and she was too busy sucking Kiba's face to even notice. Why didn't she check on her when they came home? This is why she never went out of her comfort zone, bad things inevitably happened.

"And you didn't notice?" Sasuke inquired.

Sakura didn't respond, her guilt beginning to consume her as tears pricked her eyes. Kiba, bless his heart, did instead.

"Sorry Sasuke, we were kind of busy."

"Jesus. Enough already. This is not a pissing contest. Hinata is missing. Regardless of what events transpired last night, we need to find her. The sooner we start looking for her the better our odds are." Sakura was in full shinobi mode now, not allowing herself to cry in front of these two. Their old mission was just replaced with a much more pressing one. If something happened to Hinata on her watch, she would never forgive herself. She didn't even want to think about how Naruto would react.

"Kiba, I need you and Akamaru to go back to the village now. If you travel on his back you can make it there before nightfall. Tell Tsunade everything that has happened, and request backup. In the meantime, I'll start asking around. Hinata has memorable features, someone had to have seen her at some point last night."

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself. Hinata disappeared last night in this very town and you're asking me to leave you in it?" Kiba asked incredulously.

"She won't be alone. I'm still a shinobi of the Leaf and would be more useful on this mission than you would be." Sasuke said cooly.

"Right, you'd be more useful on this mission than me and my dog, who have superior tracking skills. Makes sense." Kiba retorted.

"Kiba, the reason I'm asking you to get reinforcements is because of your tracking skills. There's no telling where this might end up taking us, and the backup needs to be able to find their way to us wherever we end up. Please, this is about Hinata. Our friend, our teammate. We owe it to her to handle this in the best way possible," Sakura evenly stated.

Reluctantly, Kiba agreed with her. "Okay, we'll pack up and leave right now. Please be careful," Kiba said quietly as he gave her a strong hug before pulling away and going back to his room.

Sakura just nodded her head, mentally cursing the blush that unwillingly spread across her face and refusing to look at Sasuke. "Let me change real quick and we will head out too."

"Hn."

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke started their search in silence, going to the club where the group had split up last night. The first few shops that they stopped at hadn't seen Hinata at all. They got lucky when they stopped at a shop that sold jewelry made from the beautiful gems and precious stones. The owner said that he saw the girl last night looking at the merchandise when she was approached by a young girl in tattered clothing. He said that the girl asked Hinata if she had any food to spare so that she could feed herself and her younger brother for the night. Being the bleeding heart that she was, Hinata quickly obliged and that was the last the man had seen of her.

"Thank you, that was very helpful," Sakura bowed as they continued to walk further down the road to see if there were any shops that sold produce in the vicinity, assuming that's where the duo headed next.

Sakura couldn't stand the silence any longer, and decided to break it despite inner Sakura telling her to keep her mouth shut. "So, how did you find us at the Inn? Did Tsunade tell you where we were staying at?"

"Yes," Sasuke lied. In reality, Tsunade hadn't mentioned anything to him about who went on the mission and where they were stationed. It was only because he saw Kiba and Sakura at the club last night that he knew they were staying in Tenzen. He wasn't going to tell her that, though.

Frustrated with his short response, she pressed the conversation further. "What were you doing in Tenzen? News of our mission couldn't have gotten to you any sooner than yesterday, so you had to be staying in this town at the time. Is it because Orochimaru's hideout is nearby?"

Sparing her a sideways glance, Sasuke thought about how he wanted to answer her. He didn't exactly want to tell her what he was really doing here: drinking and fucking. "That's merely a coincidence. This town is large and has a lot to offer, so I've been staying here for a few weeks in between missions."

"Ah. The women here are truly beautiful, aren't they?" Sakura mused thoughtfully.

"I haven't noticed." Sasuke dismissed, hoping to change the subject.

They came up to a little market about 5 minutes from the last shop they stopped at. Sakura walked up to the owner and described Hinata, asking if he had seen her.

"Sorry, but if you aren't going to buy anything I am going to have to ask you to leave," he quickly stated, trying to get them out of his shop as soon as possible.

"Sir, please answer my question! She went missing last night, we haven't heard from her since.." Sakura trailed off.

"I'm sorry, I've not seen her. Now please leave," he ushered them towards the exit and locked the doors behind them once they were out.

Sakura looked to Sasuke, gauging his reaction. "What the hell was that?"

"That was someone who knows something they shouldn't, something that could get them into serious trouble," Sasuke stated while moving away from the shop.

"Well he clearly knows something, we can't just leave!" Sakura pleaded.

"We can't make a scene in the middle of the street on such a busy shopping day. There will be too many witnesses. We will come back after they close at 5 and get some answers, even if we have to force them out."

Sakura wasn't happy with his answer, but she knew he was right. She just felt guilty that they had to waste precious time waiting until they could pry answers from the man.

Her stomach audibly grumbled, and she realized she hadn't eaten since dinner last night. "I need to eat something, want to grab some food while we wait? Do you have any recommendations? You've been here longer than I have so you have to know what's good and what isn't."

Sasuke thought for a moment before answering. "There's a place that sells really good miso soup about ten minutes from here."

"That sounds good. I'd be willing to eat anything right now."

* * *

They had ordered their food and ate in relative silence. Sakura wasn't really sure what to talk about. She had mixed feelings about seeing Sasuke for the first time in over a year. He had changed in that time; his hair was a little longer where it fell above his shoulders. He was still just as handsome, but something was different that she couldn't quite place her finger on.

The thing that was most conflicting for her was the night she spent with Kiba. She enjoyed herself, being able to fully accept his company after making the executive decision to move on and forget about her feelings for Sasuke. Now that Sasuke was here in front of her, she knew that she was lying to herself. She would never be able to move on from him, the best she could manage was swallowing her feelings while she pretended to move on. Prior to his departure from Konoha, they had spent a lot of time together. Nothing they did was particularly noteworthy, but the fact that Sasuke allowed her to be around him so much meant something to her. She was probably looking too far into it, but it still made her happy. That's why his decision to leave had hurt her even more than the first time. He had allowed her into his life in ways that she never imagined, to think that meant nothing to him was painful.

She wasn't sure how to feel. Her emotions were all over the place, made worse by Hinata's disappearance. She was a mess mentally, trying her best to hold it all together and be the strong kunoichi she wanted everyone to see her as.

She was disrupted from her train of thought as someone called Sasuke's name.

"Sasuke-kun! What're you doing here, especially without inviting me?" A newly familiar voice whined.

Sakura had to do a double take as she looked at the woman approaching their table. It was the dancer from the club that she saw last night. What was her name… Rose?

"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt!" Rose exclaimed as she reached the table, her eyes resting on Sakura's face. "Hey, I'd remember that pink hair anywhere! You were at the club last night, right?"

Sakura blanched. She was not prepared for this, especially explaining to Sasuke why she was at a strip club.. but wait. This woman was clearly familiar with Sasuke, so how did they know one another?

"Uh, yeah… that was me," Sakura changed the subject quickly, "So how do you two know each other?"

Sasuke was mentally practicing how he was going to handle this situation. The woman he'd been fucking for the last month and the woman he hadn't stopped thinking about fucking for the last year were together right in front of him. Not an ideal interaction by any means. He knew he had to interject before he was no longer in control of the situation.

"Rose and I met my first week here at this very restaurant actually," he answered while shooting a pointed look at Rose, knowing she would follow suit.

"Mhmm! Sasuke has been in good hands during his stay here," Rose smiled sweetly. "How do you know Sakura-chan, Sasuke?"

"She is an old teammate from my home village."

Sakura's heart fell a little at the formal title he gave her, he never missed an opportunity to let her know exactly where she stood.

"Oh that's cool, so you're a shinobi then? That's amazing!" Rose paused for a second, before continuing, "So how did you two meet up here, did you run into each other at the club last night?"

And, there it went. Any semblance of control Sasuke had on the situation just flew out the window. He prepared for the worst.

Sakura shot him a look, before inquiring, "You were at the club last night?"

"Oh yes, he's there every day during the weekends!" Rose explained.

Sasuke was going to kill her. This must be some weird female territorial thing that he didn't understand. Why else would Rose be so forthcoming with information about their relationship even though Sasuke made it obvious that he didn't want Sakura knowing the true nature of it?

An amused look crossed Sakura's features. "Oh are you Sasuke-kun? I never pegged you as a man who would be interested in strippers."

"And I never pegged you as someone who would be interested in dogs, but here we are," The words left Sasuke's mouth before he could stop them. He let him temper get the best of him.

Sakura was struck with the realization that he must have seen her and Kiba at the club last night, which would explain his lack of reaction when he found them in the same room together. Oh, god, he must have assumed the worst between the two of them. Why did she care, though? He clearly had no issue with being involved with other women. Sakura couldn't compare to Rose in any way, the woman was lightyears more attractive than she would ever be.

"Well, there's a first for everything." Sakura stated, not wanting to continue this conversation.

Rose was clearly pleased with how she turned their interaction sour, dismissing herself. "It was nice to see the both of you, enjoy the rest of your day!"

Neither of them spoke to one another for the remainder of the meal.

* * *

Sakura was the first one to give into the silence, because she knew there was no way Sasuke was going to break it first. After their meal, they went and sat on a bench on the side of one of the busy streets, waiting until they could question their suspect.

"I'm sorry if I acted bitchy in front of Rose. I don't want her to think there's anything going on between us, and the way she acted makes me think that she does."

"Hn."

"So, are the two of you together?"

She was just as annoying as ever. He knew at this point there was no reason to lie, at least he could use the opportunity to get the information he wanted as well. "Yes, we've been spending a lot of time together in the last few weeks. What about you and Kiba?"

Sakura thought about how much information she wanted to give him. He had answered her question, but didn't give any details. She would follow suit, "That's a recent thing."

"Ah."

She decided to press further, taking advantage of his willingness to talk. "She's very beautiful. Do you think you'll take her back to Konoha?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, was Sakura… jealous? Interesting. "No. It's not that serious."

Sakura was relieved, but she refused to show it. "That's unfortunate, but probably for the best. If you brought her back everyone would fight for her attention," she allowed herself to laugh, in spite of how she was really feeling.

"I suppose," Sasuke responded, not sounding very interested in where the conversation had gone.

Sakura wasn't sure what the motivation was for what she said next, it just sort of happened. "Last night was the first time Kiba and I did anything like that together. We danced at the club together and I didn't want to wake Hinata up when we came back to the Inn so I slept in his room. That's all that happened."

"I see," Sasuke responded while shooting her a questioning glance. Why did she want him to know that? He was relieved, though.

"So… what have you been up to since you left Konoha?" Sakura asked, hopeful that he felt comfortable enough to indulge her.

"Initially I just picked up random missions, trying to remain busy. About a month and a half ago, I pushed it too far in a battle with a group of rogue ninja. I let my guard down and suffered a pretty severe injury, which is what let me to Orochimaru's hideout so that Karin could tend to the wounds. That's when I decided to take a break for a few weeks and found myself in Tenzen."

"Ah, Tsunade said she hadn't heard from you in a few weeks. We were beginning to worry."

"Hn. I just needed some time to think about what I was going to do next."

"Did you ever think of coming back to the village?"

He looked at her now, wanted to gauge her emotions. "To be honest, not really."

Sakura looked down, unable to maintain eye contact with him. "Did you ever plan to actually come back?"

Sasuke knew that his answer had hurt the girl, but he wasn't the type of person to lie just to spare someone's feelings. "I didn't. I don't feel like there is a life for me in Konoha. The best path for me is to be remote ninja of the Leaf. I can still help the village; however, this way I don't have to deal with all of the politics."

"There could have been a life for you there, you just refused to see it." Sakura said as she got up and walked towards their suspect's shop. It was almost time for him to be closing, but mostly it was because she didn't want Sasuke to see the tears that slipped down her face.

Sasuke didn't say anything, letting the truth of her words soak in. He silently stood and followed her.

* * *

The pair slipped into the second level of the man's shop through a window, careful not to make a sound. They secured the area, making sure there wasn't anyone else there that could interrupt their little interrogation. They easily caught the man off guard, making quick work of restraining him. You'd be surprised how forthcoming people can be with information with a kunai pressed to their throat as Sasuke did at this very moment.

"So, I'll ask you again. Have you seen our friend? Make a sound other than an answer to my question, and my partner here will end you in a heartbeat. We'll be gone as silently as we arrived before anyone can make it to help you" Sakura began, taking a seat in front of the man to meet his eyes.

The fear in his eyes was obvious, and Sakura didn't think they would have an issue getting what they wanted from the feeble man.

"I can't tell you anything even if I knew where your friend went. You have no idea who you're dealing with. They'll kill all three of us!"

Sasuke grunted. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. Your biggest threat right now and in the future is the two of us, that much I can assure you."

The man clearly didn't believe him, still refusing to give them what they wanted. Sakura had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but she was wasting precious time here.

The man began to scream and struggle against his restraints. Sasuke shot Sakura a look before he realized she had placed a genjutsu on the man. Smart girl.

"She was taken by a group known as the Black Shadow! Oh GOD please stop, I'll tell you everything!"

About 5 minutes later they had everything they wanted. The Black Shadow was a group of shinobi that did the bidding of a boss known as Tomoe. Tomoe was an elite shinobi who had been in the bingo books for years now, but no one who got near him ever lived to tell the tale. Apparently, they controlled everything is this town to some degree, holding the safety of the residents over their heads in exchange for them to keep their mouths shut. The little girl that was seen with Hinata was a tactic the group used to lure in females, what they did with them was unknown.

Deciding she had enough information to go off, Sakura knocked the man unconscious and untied him.

"Okay, this is around the time that Hinata would have gone missing yesterday. Time to play the game of human bait."

* * *

Sasuke wasn't enthused with Sakura's plan, but he had to admit it was a good one. She was going to wander along the shops as Hinata did yesterday, with Sasuke trailing closely behind her in hopes that they would run into the little girl at some point and that she would eventually lead them to Hinata.

Sakura had returned to the Inn, changing into her best clothes and doing something more appealing with her hair. She undid the braid she put in that morning and allowed her hair to fall around her in a cascade of waves.

Sakura started at the shop right next to the club and made her way down the line all the while feigning interest in what they had to offer. They had no such luck of the little girl interacting with them, they had been at this for hours. Just when she thought about giving up for the night, she saw a pretty girl talking to a young girl in tattered clothes three buildings ahead of where they were currently. She looked up at Sasuke, who was currently on the roof of the building to her left. He nodded to her, closely watching the interaction up ahead.

The little girl started to lead the older one down the street, and Sakura began to tail them with Sasuke following from up above. They walked for a while, making their way to the older, poorer part of the city. The pair went into an alley way, making their way towards a young boy who was sitting in a makeshift shelter who was also in tattered clothing. Sakura made sure to stay out of view, and when a man opened the door to the building the young boy was stationed up against and threw a cloth over the woman's mouth, she had to stifle the gasp that almost escaped. The woman struggled for a brief moment before she succumbed to whatever was on the cloth. He dragged the woman's limp body into the door he just came out of.

The little girl hurried over to her little brother, giving him what appeared to be some kind of medicine. Sakura's heart ached as she realized the extent of what she just witnessed. These people were using that little girl to do their dirty business in exchange for her brother's health. If she were upset before, she was seething now.

Quickly making her way up to the roof Sasuke was on, she did her best to conceal the tears that threatened to make themselves known. She wasn't successful, and the tears streamed down her face. Sasuke regarded her carefully, not sure what to say or do in that very moment.

Sakura was mad more than anything, and her tears were the only thing keeping her from busting that entire building down to the ground. "We have to stop this. This just got so much bigger than Hinata going missing. These men are controlling everyone in this town; who knows just how deep this runs."

Sasuke nodded, allowing her to continue before interjecting.

"We can't wait for backup, we have to make a move tonight."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note:

Phew, this was the longest chapter yet. This is where the SasuSaku begins, so thank you for being patient as I set the stage.  
I hope you enjoy, leave a review if you don't mind!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Sad sadness.

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke made their way back to the Inn, needing to get an actual plan together and thoroughly think about how they were going to approach the situation.

"Okay, so the building that the woman was taken into was just an old warehouse. There's no telling what's really going on in there. We don't know how many men are stationed there at any point in time nor do we know the skill level of those men. I'd like to assume they're shinobi and no civilians seeing that they work for Tomoe. I don't think he'd let just anyone work for him. They need to have a lot of power on their side in order to run an operation of this scale for so long without anyone reporting it." Sakura was backtracking the important facts of the mission.

"I've been here for three weeks and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I also wasn't really looking." Sasuke provided.

"It might be fair to assume they know who you are, though. You're the last of the Uchiha clan and a very well-known shinobi. They might have purposefully avoided any interaction with you or near you because of that fact."

"I would assume that is the reason why everything seemed so normal up to this point." Sasuke mentally cursed himself for being so consumed by alcohol and women to even pay attention to the unethical business being run under the guise of a bustling city.

"Do you know how long Rose has lived here? If she's been a citizen for a long time there's a good chance that she knows something that could be useful."

"Hn. I don't know. We never really talked about our personal lives." Sasuke stated. They didn't talk at all, really.

"Well it's worth a shot. We can infiltrate that warehouse tonight and see what we find, then we can talk to Rose and see if she can explain anything."

"That's assuming she will talk. If she's a citizen here, it is safe to assume that she's just as afraid to speak on it as that shop keeper was."

"Well, we can only try. I'm sure you can be very convincing," Sakura rolled her eyes slightly.

"If only you knew," Sasuke's voice sounding much deeper than she was prepared for. It made her stomach to a flip.

"Ah.. right. So let's move out. We'll have to keep our chakra suppressed, I'm sure they have a sensory ninja somewhere and it is better to be on the safe side."

* * *

The pair made their way to the warehouse in silence. Once they were close, the moved to the rooftops. They inspected the roof of the building for entry points, eventually finding a vent that they could move through. They carefully navigated the tunnels, making sure to be very quiet. Sakura heard voices in the distance, and looked back at Sasuke. He nodded and they continued towards the sound.

"The auction is set to take place tonight. We have 10 products to sell, 3 of them are premium and expected to draw large crowds and larger sums of money. Everything is set to go at the club; the regular business will still take place to dispel any suspicion."

"I see. Did you find anything out about the shinobi we got last night? She is very unique; her eyes are like nothing I've seen before. I'd like to be able to move her tonight before her company sticks their noses into my business and I have to make a much bigger scene than I need to."

"Yes, we actually got very lucky. The group she was travelling with split up, one heading back to their village as you suspected they would. We were able to ambush him easily, and he was very forthcoming with information when we told him that we had both of his companions in custody and that we were willing to do whatever we needed to convince him to comply."

Sakura's stomach dropped. They had Kiba, which meant that he never made it to the village for reinforcements. They were alone on this. They couldn't head back to the village on their own or they could lose track of both Hinata and Kiba. This was worst case scenario. The only option they had was to send a carrier bird and hope that it made its way to the village okay, even then the backup wouldn't be here for another 72 hours at the least.

"You'll never believe our luck. She's a Hyuga, a clan that houses a kekkei genkai known as Byakugan. It's very rare, she'll fetch more money than any of the others."

Sakura felt like she could puke. This must be the group that was coordinating the attacks on the villages with kekkei genkai users, and it wasn't a coincidence that they were taking young women. These men were selling human beings on the black market.

"I couldn't have asked for better if I tried. We would have never been able to get from the village so the fact that she came to us is a great blessing. Very well, thank you Kazu."

"Of course Tomoe. Are you ready to head to the club now?"

"Yes, I want to go over every detail to make sure this goes off without a hitch. This has potential to be my biggest endeavor yet."

The two men could be heard walking away, followed by the sound of a door being shut shortly after. Sakura was still for another moment before motioning to Sasuke that she wanted to continue. She eventually came to a vent that led to the level below and made quick work of removing it and quietly jumping down. Sasuke followed suit.

They found themselves in a large and completely empty warehouse. "This place must only serve as a meeting area and as a point of capture for their female victims," Sasuke deduced.

"Right, but that doesn't explain how they get the unconscious women from here to the club where they plan on selling them. There are too many tourists that aren't sworn to secrecy that would raise questions to a group of men carrying an unconscious woman into a strip club."

Sasuke paused, considering her words. "They have to be connected somehow then. I'm sure if we look around we'll find it."

The pair split up, covering the perimeter of the building. They looked behind all of the doors and checked walls for false doors to no avail. It wasn't until Sakura leaned up the wall in frustration that her back hit a keypad that she just assumed was for a security system, that's when it hit her.

"It's got to be this key pad, but we can't just try combinations without setting off the alarm. At least we know that they do have a connecting tunnel between these two locations though. It gives us an advantage."

"We will need to talk to Rose, then. We need to get into that auction and I don't imagine they'll let just anybody in."

"Okay, I'm going to have to get something to wear. I only brought street clothes with me. But before we do that, there's something else I need to do."

Sasuke gave her a quizzical look as she proceeded to go into the vent system once more and leave the building the way they came in. He followed suit, learning a long time ago not to question the woman more than necessary.

Once they were back on the roof, Sakura jumped down to the alley way where the two children were hiding. Her sudden arrival scared them, and the young girl immediately stood before her brother with her arms to her sides as if to protect them.

Sakura's features softened, not moving from where she was so that she wouldn't scare them off. "I'm not here to hurt you, honey. I'm a doctor. I saw you give your brother medicine earlier, what's wrong with him?"

The girl eyed Sakura suspiciously, not sudden with her response.

"Mr. Tomoe gives me the medicine I need to help him. We don't need your help."

"What if I told you I could heal his illness for good? I'm a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village and my specialty is medical ninjutsu. I could help you guys and you would never have to work for that awful man again."

"Mr. Tomoe would find us, I shouldn't be talking to you. He told me to never talk to strangers."

Sakura, sensing the girl's reluctance to allow her to help, went further to prove her ability. She took a kunai out of her pouch, and the little girl's eyes grew wide. "Just watch," she explained. Sakura dragged the blade across her palm, deep red instantly flowing from the new wound.

"Lady, what is wrong with you! You're bleeding!"

"I told you to watch," Sakura stated again, smiling now. She focused to chakra to hand as she moved it to hover over the wound. The flow of blood began to slow as the cells regenerated and her skin began to mend itself. The little girl was amazed now, looking at Sakura with interest instead of fear now.

"I can help you guys. I can heal your brother and I will take you back to Konoha with me where you can stay at the orphanage and you'll have warm beds and hot meals and you can even make friends and go to school."

The little girl had tears in her eyes at this point, overwhelmed with Sakura's generosity. Sasuke was uncomfortable. This amount of palpable emotion wasn't something he was frequently exposed to.

"We don't know what my brother has, we've never been to a doctor. Mr. Tomoe just gave us a medicine so that his pain is manageable…" the little girl trailed off.

"I can do an exam on him, promise. May I?" Sakura asked, waiting permission prior to approaching the duo.

The little girl didn't say anything, just nodding.

Sakura walked over to the children and crouched down, "My name's Sakura. What are your names?"

"Mizuki, and this is my brother Natsu."

"Well it's very nice to meet you guys. Nastu, I'm going to place my hands on your chest, ok? You won't feel anything, I promise."

The little boy just nodded at her as she moved to do just that. Sakura sent her chakra into his system, searching for the source of the boy's ailment. She eventually came to his find a mass in the lymph node located on his neck. Redirecting her chakra to break down the cells within the mass and move them into his bloodstream where his kidneys would filter out the now dead cells.

"There, all done. You had a lump on your neck that was hurting your body's ability to fight sickness, which explains why you haven't gotten over this sickness on your own. You should be good to go now," Sakura said as she stood.

"Now, do you accept my invitation to come to Konoha?"

"What do you want from us? We don't have anything to offer you," The little girl stated, sounding defeated.

"The only thing I want from you is the promise to come with me. You can come stay in my hotel room until we are ready to leave. We have some business to finish in this town that might take a couple of days, but we will keep you hidden and protected from Tomoe's men. How's that sound?" Sakura asked with a warm smile on her face.

The siblings looked at each other before nodding, and with that they followed Sakura and Sasuke back to the Inn, keeping their faces hidden from passerby.

Once they made it to the Inn, they snuck the children in through the window so that the Inn keeper wouldn't see them. They had to operate under the assumption that all businesses were in cahoots with the Black Shadow. Sakura sent Sasuke to get some warm food for them, much to his chagrin, but he obliged anyways.

Once the children were fed and bathed, Sakura instructed them to stay in this room and not answer the door for anyone. Sakura was the only one who could open the door, so she let them know that they were safe. Before they left to go get her a suitable outfit for tonight, she performed a sealing jutsu on the room so that the children couldn't hear anything from the outside and anyone on the outside couldn't get in without releasing it.

* * *

Once in the streets once more, Sakura led them towards a clothing shop she saw earlier that had nice clothing. "I'm going to have to adorn a henge, they know who you are and we can't risk them recognizing me and my pink hair. If we work under the guise that you're interested in purchasing one of the girls for Orochimaru I think we can get away with it. Plus, the girls at the club know you and we can use that to our advantage. Try to pick out something that you would wear if you were a wealthy, corrupted businessman who was getting ready to purchase a human being from the black market," Sakura emphasized.

"I don't think they have a section for such an occasion," Sasuke deadpanned.

Sakura threw him a glance, knowing he knew what she meant. After a few minutes of searching, she found a long, elegant, jade colored silk dress. It had spaghetti straps that moved to cross over her back where they met the fabric just above her butt. This would work. She also bought a silver pair of strappy shoes and a pair of silver drop earrings to spice it up a notch. Sasuke just grabbed a pair of black dress pants, a white dress shirt, and a pair of black leather shoes.

Once they were finished purchasing their items, Sasuke offered to have them go back to his place to change. Sakura didn't waste time accepting the offer. Sasuke was staying in one of the nicer hotels in the city, putting the little inn she had stayed in to shame. It was more modern, with a large king bed in the center of the back wall. It had a kitchenette, a full bathroom (with a bathtub, Sakura noted longingly), and a wonderful view of the city.

"I can understand why you've lingered here. This room is lovely, so is the view," Sakura said as she moved over to look out the window.

Sasuke was standing beside the bed, unpacking his weapons and placing them on the nightstand, and he looked up at her as she said that. The lights of the city illuminated her face, making her pastel eyes and hair stand out more than usual. "Yes, it is."

Sakura turned to find him watching her with an expression she wasn't used to, and it made her blush. "So, do you care if I use the bathroom first?" Sakura asked hurriedly, wanting to squirm out of the intensity of his gaze.

"Yeah, I don't really need to do anything other than change."

Sakura wasted no time swooping up her clothes and moving into the bathroom before shutting the door a little louder than she had intended. Once inside, she didn't move from where she stood with her back against the door for a good minute. There was a weird tension between her and Sasuke, the kind that came from too many words that had never been said. It had been over a year since she'd seen him and she didn't think much of it until just now, but his company was as comfortable as ever. Even with the pressing situation at hand, his calm demeanor kept her grounded when she needed it most.

Sighing, Sakura moved to wash up. She didn't want to wash her hair, as it fell in the loose waves from the braid she took out earlier that morning. To make it look more formal, she braided each side of her front part and connected them in the back, forming a crown. As she undressed, she was forever thankful that she made a habit of wearing nice undergarments. She couldn't wear a bra with the dress, but her underwear was a black lace thong that accentuated the curve of her ass better than any other underwear she owned, and most importantly they were traceless under fabric. She then moved to slide the dress over her body, relishing the luxurious feel of the silk against her skin. It clung in all the right places, highlighting her curves and making her look more like a woman than she's ever felt. She slipped the shoes and earrings on before taking one last look at herself. She was surprised, she felt pretty.

Almost embarrassed to step out of the bathroom because she wasn't used to such elegant attire, she swallowed her fear and opened the bathroom door. She wasn't sure who was more surprised at what they found behind the door, her or Sasuke.

Sasuke was in the middle of changing; he had his nice slacks on and was in the middle of shrugging the dress shirt on so he could button it. This gave Sakura a very open view of his toned abdomen. She couldn't stop her eyes from lingering, roaming over the hard lines and taut skin. She swallowed, forcing herself to make eye contact with him.

That intensity in his gaze was back, threatening to make her blush again. Thankfully, he broke the silence for once.

"That dress suits you very well."

"Aah, thank you. I thought the green would bring out my eyes," she reasoned.

"It does," he replied as he worked on buttoning his shirt and relieving Sakura of the temptation. He left the first few buttons undone, pulling off the casually sexy look better than anyone she had ever seen (not that she was surprised). He put his shoes on and re-hid his weapons.

"Do you have any weapons under all that?" Sasuke asked.

"I've got two kunai and two shuriken. That's all I could manage since this fabric isn't very forgiving."

"That should be plenty, your fists alone are weapons in themselves."

Sakura took that as a compliment coming from him, and she allowed a smile to grace her lips.

She brought on her henge, turning her pink hair to a nearly white blond and earning a raised eyebrow from her partner. "Are we ready to go then?"

* * *

The couple earned a lot of lingering glances as they made their way to the club. Sasuke was walking with his hands in his pockets and Sakura had her arm looped through his. Selling the "we're a couple vibe" was easier than he thought, and the area where her skin touched his sent a current through his body that he had never felt. Choosing to ignore it, he set a quick pace in order to get to the club and out of this position as soon as possible.

When they arrived, he led them through the side door that he normally used that led to the girls' dressing rooms. One of the women instantly lit up at the sight of him, only to fall once she noticed Sakura behind him. She had short, black hair cut into a bob that brought out her angular features. Her eyes were the color of warm honey, the combination of her looks made Sakura think of a cat. She was tall and slender, and her body language read every bit as predatory as a feline's.

"What can we do for you Mr. Sasuke?" the woman asked, a fake sweetness dripping on her words.

"I need to see Rose, where is she?" He replied.

The woman pouted, "I should've known that much. She hasn't arrived yet, but I'd be more than willing to help you with whatever you need," she purred.

"That won't be necessary," Sakura cut in, making her presence known.

The woman didn't respond, just narrowed her eyes and moved past them to walk onto the general floor. Sasuke paused, thinking about what they should do next. "I'll be right back, just wait here for a second." He figured he could find another girl to give him the information if he really put his mind to it.

"You can't leave me out here, women like this don't take well to other women, especially ones that they don't know," Sakura whispered as she looked for signs of life in the hallway.

Sasuke thought for another moment, and a shift in his emotions made her freeze.

"Fine, I have another idea, but you're not going to like it."

"It has to be better than being mauled by catty strippers.." Sakura trailed off.

"Hn," Sasuke said as a smirk pulled at his features.

She was uneasy all of a sudden, not liking where this was going. She wasn't left much time to think as Sasuke led them into one of the dressing rooms marked as Rose's. He closed the door behind them, ensuring no one saw them go in.

The room wasn't too small, approximately 8 feet by 10 feet. A large vanity rimmed with lights sat against the wall facing the door. Two garment racks adorned the other two walls, filled with lacey numbers that would but Sakura's underwear collection to shame any day.

"You're going to have to explain what you plan on doing because I'm not following at all."

"When in Rome..." Sasuke began as he rummaged through one of the racks, "... do as the Romans do."

Sakura yelped as a black lace unitard was thrown in her face. Is was all lacey mesh and black strings, doing very little to hide any intimate areas. It was then that it dawned on her what he was insinuating.

"You can not be serious."

"Do I ever joke?" Sasuke retorted.

"There is no fucking way that I am putting this on and pretending to be a stripper."

"You will if it means that we can save Hinata and Kiba. The only way we are going to get access to the lower level is by you pretending to be one of the girls. Don't feign embarrassment either, you have a henge on. None of these people will know it's really you."

"B-but, that's not really what I'm worried about here!" Sakura exclaimed as a blush creeped across her features.

He just stared at her, "You're being annoying."

"FINE!" she yelled angrily. He knew how to set her off, that much hadn't changed. "So glad I spent all this money on this outfit for nothing," she muttered.

"You'll have to put it back on once we get into the auction. I'll pay you back for it if that will make you shut up and get dressed. The auction is set to start in a half hour."

"Whatever, turn around."

He quirked an eyebrow before obliging, entertained by the fact that Sakura didn't take into account the mirror that allowed him to see her in his peripheral still. Allowing her some semblance of modesty, he didn't look even though it took every ounce of self control that he had.

Sakura made quick work of changing. It took her a minute to figure out how the lingerie went on, it was much to strappy for her liking. Once it was on, she looked at herself in the mirror and tried not to allow her embarrassment to kill her. The lace bra lifted her breasts up and made them look a solid cup bigger than they really were, and the straps that connected the top to the bottom hugged her every curve and drew the eyes to the black lacey bottoms that so conveniently were in the style of a thong.

She swore under her breath before sliding her shoes back on, thankful that at least the jewelry and shoes made her look like a classy stripper. She folded her dress and put it into one of the bags she found in the room.

"Ok, now what," Sakura ground out.

Sasuke turned around and he did an annoyingly good job at hiding his emotions, but Sakura still took note of how his eyes lingered on her most private places. Deciding she was too pissed off to blush, she called him out, "Oh come on. You've been spending your days with the most attractive woman on the planet, this is nothing you haven't seen before. Explain your plan."

She was right, he had been spending his days with the most attractive woman on the planet, but he hadn't seen her like this before. Even though her hair was a different color, the rest of her was undeniably Sakura and she looked every bit a woman that Rose ever did. More so, only on account of Sasuke's feelings for her.

"Well, I'm assuming access to the lower level has to be in this back hallway somewhere. Just lead me out of here and we'll look for it. If we get caught, we can use the guise of trying to find someplace more private to enjoy one another's company," Sasuke explained.

Blushing in spite of her rage, she moved to open the door wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, not taking into consideration her very not covered ass that Sasuke had free roam of and he wasted no time doing just that with his eyes.

She shoved the bag into one hand and grabbed the other with her own and led him down the hallway going the opposite direction that they came in. They walked past all of the girls' dressing rooms, all of them were empty and led nowhere. Once at the end of the hall, there was a pair of double doors. They went through them to find a set of stairs that led to the lower level.

"It can't be this easy," Sakura said wearily.

"Well, we aren't there yet. Keep going."

She hesitantly started down the dim stairway, mentally cursing this damned outfit and heels. They were neither comfortable or quiet.

The bottom of the stairwell opened into another hallway with many rooms stemming from it. These doors didn't have windows in them like the others did, however. Slowly, they made their way down the hallway. They were listening for any sound to tip them off to the direction of the auction.

The sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening snapped them out of their concentration, causing Sakura to whip her head around only to be pushed up against the wall by Sasuke. He brought his hand up to cover her mouth before she could question him, the intensity of his gaze making her lose any thoughts she had previously.

Once he was sure she wasn't going to say anything, he moved a knee between her legs, spreading them so that he could slide his body flush with hers. Heat began to pool in her lower abdomen, setting the skin where they touched on fire. Sakura's heart was about to beat out of her chest now, she had imaged a scene like this over and over in her head thousands of times and now that it was happening she felt like she might explode.

Sasuke moved his hands up to either side of her face and brought their lips together into a slow, gentle kiss. Sakura's mind lost the ability to think about anything but the feeling of his lips against hers. Her senses were overwhelmed; his warm, masculine scent permeated every fiber of her being. When he was sure she was ready to reciprocate their interaction, he ran his tongue along her bottom lip and when she gasped he took advantage to deepen the kiss. A low moan involuntarily escaped Sakura's throat, and Sasuke almost lost control at that. He growled, moving his hands into her hair pulling her head back slightly so he could attack the pale column of her neck with his mouth, alternating kissing it and lightly biting the skin. A new feeling overcame Sakura, and she could feel her panties moisten with her desire for the man ravishing her neck. Sakura was losing her grip on reality, no longer even taking into consideration the security guard that had made his way down to them.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing down here?" He yelled in a deep voice that was probably meant to intimidate but the forced nature of it did the exact opposite.

Annoyed, Sasuke broke his mouth from her neck. "I'm sampling some of the goods before the auction, is that an issue?"

Oh, shit. The auction. Hinata. Reality came crashing back to Sakura and she quickly fell into her role of seductive stripper, looping her arms around Sasuke.

"Oh mister, we were just getting to the good part too!" Sakura practically whined.

Both men gave her their undivided attention. Sasuke was caught off guard by her participation but was ultimately thankful for it when the guard started to walk further down the hallway, "The auction will start in 10 minutes, just make sure you in the room before that because the door will lock and no one will be allowed entry."

They both paid attention to the door that the man went through. Sakura, still coming out of the fog of desire, didn't immediately take her hands from around his neck nor did Sasuke move to take his knee from between her legs. A few seconds later, though, he did just that as he handed her the bag with her dress.

"Okay, get dressed. We know where to go now," Sasuke stated emotionlessly, turning his back to her so she could change.

"Uh, right." Sakura had never changed so quickly in her life.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Happy Thursday friends! This story is writing itself and I'm pretty happy with where it's going. I estimate it will be around 20 chapters when everything is said and done. Please leave a review, it helps me to know what you guys think of the story so far! I'm always open to constructive criticism.**

 **Anywho, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Sakura wasted no time changing and stuffing the lingerie she was wearing into the bag before tossing it to the side of the hallway.

"I'm going to have to change my hair color again, just to be safe since that guard couldn't have seen my face very well in this dim lighting," Sakura stated as she shifted her hair from white blonde to a vibrant auburn. She also changed the texture from the loose waves to a more tight, uniform wave that made her look much more elegant.

Sasuke watched silently, considering the many shades of Sakura he had witnessed this evening. The red hair contrasted well with her emerald eye color, he thought.

"Let's get going, the auction starts in ten minutes," he said before walking in the direction they had seen the guard go.

"Hai," Sakura agreed before following her partner down the hallway.

At the end of the hallway, it took a sharp left into a smaller hallway that ended in another set of double doors. Sasuke took note of the fact that there were no windows on these doors, either. Sakura had stopped suddenly behind him; her hesitation was palpable.

Sasuke's reaction was automatic, he didn't think about it, "Whatever lies beyond this door you will have to take in stride. We've come too far to back out now," Sasuke said as he took her hand and squeezed it, making eye contact with Sakura, the fear there made his heart clench.

"I know, I just hope we aren't too late."

Sasuke didn't respond, he wasn't sure how to. Instead, he gently led the woman through the double doors. They were met with more dim lighting and two security guards on either side of them just inside the door.

"Names, please." The unfamiliar security guard stated gruffly.

"He's good, I saw him outside here earlier sampling the merchandise," the other security guard said with a chuckle. "Although, I'm not sure why he felt the need to with this fine piece in his company," he continued while reaching out to grab a strand of her hair.

Sasuke's hand came up faster than Sakura could process, stopping the security guard in his tracks. "I don't share," he said pointedly.

Sakura's stomach dropped. Men who thought of women as nothing more than objects pissed her off, but Sasuke's ownership of her didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, it made her heart beat a little faster.

"Fair enough, enjoy yourselves tonight. There's a lot of good product available," the man dismissed them with a wave of his hand and the pair continued until the hallway opened up into a large banquet hall that had a stage adorned with velvet curtains at the front. Sasuke and Sakura didn't stick out at all, the room filled with well-dressed men and women making polite small talk and hushed conversation. The room itself was lit by candle, and several tables filled the floor space. Each table had an expensive looking cloth draped over it and each place was set ornately. Menus for the evening were also set on each placemat. Sasuke led Sakura to an empty table near the back of the room where they had a perfect view of the stage.

"This is so fucked up," Sakura finally said after no longer being able to people-watch and stay silent.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed, in full defensive mode as he scanned the room.

A few moments later, the lights dimmed and a man came onto the stage where a spotlight illuminated his features. The man was handsome, his light sand-colored hair made his electric blue eyes stand out starkly against the rest of his forgettable features.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me in what I hope to be a spectacular event. You're all here for a very specific reason: you have a taste for the finer things in life. We hope to bring that to the next level by providing you an array of beautiful merchandise for your choosing tonight."

Sakura instantly recognized his voice, this was Tomoe.

Light murmuring broke out among the crowd, and he continued, "Tonight will work like any other auction, highest bidder takes the prize. We will start out with the basic models and work our way up to the luxury. Without further ado, please welcome the first prize onto the stage," he finished with a grandiose swoop of his hand towards the left of the stage. As if on cue, a woman walked to the center of the stage.

A few things hit Sakura all at once: 1. The woman was stark naked. 2. She walked onto the stage of her own accord. 3. She showed no emotion, almost like she was empty inside. She shot a look towards Sasuke, who looked like he noticed the same things.

"Allow me to explain exactly what you will be bidding on tonight. Each one of these women are completely compliant. They take orders and execute those orders; no ifs, ands, or buts. For instance," Tomoe turned to face the woman now, "Clover, kiss my shoe."

The woman didn't blink as she got to her knees and kissed the man's shoe. "Now, I'm sure you're not totally convinced. I don't blame you. How about a volunteer from the crowd? You can ask her to do anything you want," the man announced as he scanned the crowd for volunteers.

A plump, sweaty man raised his hand two tables to the left of where Sakura and Sasuke were sat. "Ah yes, good sir. Please make your way to the stage, be mindful of the steps." The large man waddled towards the stage, visibly struggling with the stairs. Sakura's stomach turned for the girl on stage, not even able to fathom what the fat man was going to have her do.

"Thank you, now simply say her name followed by your command, and she will obey."

The fat man stood still for a minute, catching his breath. Finally he huffed, "Clover, lick my belly button while touching yourself." The fat man was clearly happy with his creative command, lifting his already straining dress shift up to show his hairy, sweaty belly button.

Sakura tore her gaze away from the stage, feeling sick to her stomach. Clover did as she was told, sticking her tongue into the undoubtedly nasty orifice while simultaneously sliding her hand between her legs. The fat man's eyes grew wide and murmurs from the crowd grew louder.

"Clover, stand at attention once more," the blue-eyed man commanded as the woman complied. "Thank you for your participation, sir. If you'll have a seat once more we will start the bidding at 10 million yen."

Sakura couldn't think straight. This man had Hinata in his custody. Somehow, he had turned this woman into a mindless slave, willing to do whatever command followed her name. She immediately thought of all the terrible treatment Hinata must have gone through, and god forbid she had the same procedure done to her that Clover had. She couldn't bear it. Tears began to stream down her face silently, but they didn't go unnoticed. Sasuke had reached under the table and brought her hand to his lap where he had a firm grip on it. "We will get Hinata out of here, I promise. For you, for Naruto, for Hinata herself."

Sakura, not used to such an earnest Sasuke, took his word for it. She forced the tears to stop flowing and she forced herself to stop feeling sorry for herself. This was bigger than her feelings, her friend's well-being hung in the balance here and she had to be in 100% kunoichi mode to pull this off. Sasuke didn't give her hand back, and she made no moves to pull it away as she relished in the warmth of the gesture.

"SOLD for 27 million yen! Clover, introduce yourself to your new master," Tomoe stated as clover made her way down stage over to her new owner. After a brief conversation between the two, Clover took a seat on his lap.

Tomoe wasted no time getting the second girl on stage, and the bidding took off quickly now that the audience knew exactly what they were bidding on. Sakura needed to be able to talk to Sasuke in private, and she squeezed his hand and nodded her head towards the restrooms. He nodded and let go of her hand and she stood to go to the women's restroom. She was one of five other women in the room as opposed to the dozens of men, they had less chance of being caught in there.

Sakura took this time to eye herself in the mirror, thinking that the red hair was her favorite of the colors she had tried. It went well with the color of her dress and eyes. She was cut short on her train of thought as Sasuke made his way into the bathroom. He came over to where she was leaned over the sink and leaded up against it with his back to the mirror. She took time to note that even in her heels he was still taller than he, as he looked down at her to make eye contact.

"Make this quick, we don't want to miss Hinata," Sasuke stated.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I have a bad feeling that this is connected to the disappearance of the kekkei genkai users that prompted this mission in the first place," Sakura began. "You never got the full report, but the villages where the women went missing were attacked by what villagers described as 'lifeless corpses'. When I saw Clover on stage, that is immediately what I thought as well. The Black Shadow must have perfected some kind of justsu that turns people into mindless slaves with a command following their name."

Sasuke was thoughtfully considering her words as she spoke, nodding every now and then. "Which brings me to my next point," Sakura continued, "Hinata has one of the rarest kekkei genkai of all, and that's what Tomoe meant when he said they struck gold. She's going to be one of the premium "product" they are going to sell tonight."

"So not only are some of the people here looking for slaves, they're looking for body guards with rare power," Sasuke finished.

"Exactly. I don't know how we stop this from happening. We can't just bust her out of here. We don't know how to unseal the jutsu she's under either. Not to mention we are obligated to save the women who are being sold tonight as well. We're running out of time and options."

They were both pensive for a moment, before Sasuke began "Well, we're going to have to buy her."

"With what money?" Sakura asked, growing impatient.

"I never said we would be spending money," Sasuke stated. Sakura didn't enjoy where this was going.

* * *

Once they were seated once more, the premium auction had begun and they were getting ready to sell their second "premium product." A pretty woman with blue hair made her way onto the stage. "This is Guren, she possesses a unique ability known as crystal release. Guren, show the crowd what you can do," Tomoe ordered.

A beautiful pink crystal formed on the stage, fracturing into thousands of others until there was a large wall between the two people of stage and the rest of the crowd. Shocked gasps could be heard from the crowd, and a sinister smile spread across Tomoe's face. "This is the ultimate defense, it cannot be penetrated by any weapons or elements. It can also be wielded as a weapon. With that beings said, we will start the bidding at 100 million yen."

The crowd wasted to time bidding, and the price quickly drove upwards. Finally, a man won the bid with 510 million yen. Guren was instructed to take her place with her new master, and she did just that. It was harrowing for Sakura to see such a strong kekkei genkai user reduced to complete servitude.

"And last but certainly not least, welcome lady Hinata to the state," Tomoe roped the crowd back in with that statement.

Sakura had to choke back a sob as Hinata made her way onto the stage and stood next to Tomoe. Her face showed no emotion just like the other women and she was completely naked. Sakura held shame for her friend, knowing the girl would be absolutely reduced to tears if she was conscious.

"This beauty descends from the Hyuga clan, and she possesses the Byakugan which is known as one of the 'Three Great Dojutsu.' Bidding for this will start where the last one ended, 510 million yen."

Sasuke raised his hand, declaring his interest straight out of the gate. He continued to do so until the price was jacked up to 1 billion yen, where the man who had fought him up to that point finally backed out.

"Sold, to the lucky man in the back for 1 billion yen," Tomoe announced.

All eyes were on Sasuke and Sakura now as Hinata made their way over to them.

"Hinata, have a seat," Sasuke instructed, and Hinata wordless complied. Sakura wanted nothing more than to give the girl something to cover up with, but she knew it wasn't her place.

"Please be sure to pay your bids prior to leaving, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask," Tomoe instructed as beautiful, scantily clothes waitresses came out to the tables to take dinner orders.

The crowd began to chat with one another, intrigued by the events of the evening. "I need to be able to get access to Tomoe's private quarters. If this is a jutsu, it has to be on a scroll somewhere. Even if I can find information that he used to create it, I can use the Rinnegan to duplicate it," Sasuke started. "I'm going to need you to distract Tomoe, I don't care how you do it but it needs to keep him busy for -" Sasuke was cut off as their waitress approached their table.

"Good evening, can I take your order?" a familiar voice asked.

Sasuke's face didn't betray any emotion, but Sakura knew he was just as shocked as she was. Rose was their waitress. Her face was emotionless as she spoke.

"Rose, what are you doing here?" Sasuke finally asked.

"I am here to take your order. Can I interest you in a drink to start out with, sir?" Rose asked.

"Rose, do you know who I am?"

"You are a customer of Mr. Tomoe's and I am to cater to your every whim."

Silence fell across the table, and the weight of the situation dawned on Sasuke. Rose was now a pawn for Tomoe, and although he didn't harbor any feelings for the woman beyond their relationship in bed he still felt sorry for the woman.

Sakura, however, read his silence as sadness. Did he really have feelings for Rose?

"We'll take two waters, thank you Rose," Sasuke finally said.

"Of course," she replied as she went to fetch their drinks.

Sasuke sighed, "We have to act now if we want to be able to free these women from servitude. Can you distract Tomoe as we discussed earlier?"

"Yes," she responded curtly.

"Be careful," Sasuke said as he moved away from the table over to the bar.

Sakura was overwhelmed with emotions. They had Hinata with them now, but she was a lifeless shell of herself. It was ultimately her fault. They still had no idea where Kiba and Akamaru were. Their letter to the Leaf would be arriving shortly, but it would take two days for reinforcements to arrive. It was on her and Sasuke to save these women and singlehandedly take down an entire underground slave trade that had its claws hooked into an entire city. On top of all that, the tension between her and Sasuke was at an all time high. Their kiss had sent a fire ripping through every nerve ending in her body, it meant something to her even if it was just a means of distraction to throw the guard off their track. Even so, Sasuke had responded. She hadn't convinced herself it was entirely just to sell it to the guard. And now, here she was trusted to distract the boss of the very operation they were trying to undermine when she was so distracted herself that she could barely think straight.

She mentally shook herself, looking up at Hinata all dead-eyed and silent. That's her motivation here, saving her friend and these innocent women. Regardless if one of them had the interest of the man she'd been in love with for years, she would pull this off.

With a renewed sense of direction, Sakura scanned the room for Tomoe. She found him talking with the man who had purchased Guren. She intently stared at the man, hoping she would catch his eye and make his way over to her table. She was successful, for as soon as Tomoe made eye contact he excused himself and headed in her direction.

"Good evening, miss," Tomoe began, "Mind if I have a seat?"

"Oh, not at all. It would be my pleasure," Sakura answered, making her voice more velvety than it naturally is.

"You and your partner are very lucky. Hinata is a prize that puts all the other women here to shame, other than you of course. I imagine Sasuke will be the luckiest man on the planet now," Tomoe suggested.

"Yes, I suppose your right. I need to get something to cover her up, we don't like to share," Changing the subject, Sakura continued, "So you know Sasuke-kun?" Sakura inquired.

"Ah, I'm afraid there are few shinobi who have not heard of the infamous survivor of the Uchiha clan."

"Mm, so you're a shinobi too?"

"Ah, more or less. Enough about me, though, what is your name?"

"Giselle," Sakura lied.

"Such a pretty name for such a beautiful woman," Tomoe mused.

"Surrounded by some of the most attractive women I've ever seen, I'm sure you're just being kind."

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, Sakura-chan," Tomoe whispered as he leaned closer to her.

Before Sakura could react, she felt a stinging pain in her thigh. She looked down as Tomoe emptied a syringe of clear liquid into her bloodstream and she immediately began to lose consciousness.

* * *

Sasuke took advantage of Tomoe being completely entranced by Sakura and slipped behind the curtain. Backstage, there were two rooms that appeared to have once been dressing rooms. One door was open and housed several cages (presumably where the women were kept prior to the auction) and the other door was locked. Sasuke easily opened the door, finding the room was used as an office space. The room appeared to have been used quite often, files upon files filled the room with assorted books and scrolls.

Sasuke was definitely in the right spot. He rummaged through the scrolls and documents that were out on the desk, hoping that the information he needed for this jutsu would be some of the most recently accessed. Nothing laying out was relevant, so he made quick work of going through the drawers. Frustrated, he found nothing. He figured that Tomoe would have this information hidden well, even if he had hoped the man wouldn't be so cautious. Sasuke decided to check the desk for false walls, striking gold when he found one. He carefully removed the wall and found a scroll with research concerning something called a Subordination Justu. This was exactly what he needed, he now knew how the justu worked and more importantly how to unseal it. Now he just had to get back to Sakura before Tomoe schmoozed her to death.

Putting the scroll back where he found it and replacing the false wall, Sasuke stood and did a final scan of the room making sure nothing seemed amiss. He closed and relocked the door, sliding from behind the curtain and into the main dining hall where Sakura, Tomoe, and Hinata were nowhere to be found. An uneasiness slid through Sasuke like a cold serpent, but he remained composed. He walked towards the table that they were sat at finding a not that read "Sasuke, Tomoe is taking us to get Hinata some clothes per my request. Rose will bring you to our location once you are return. -Sakura"

It was her hand writing, and it wasn't far fetched to think Sakura would ask for clothes for Hinata. The thing that didn't sit well with him was the fact that she left with Tomoe without him returning first. She wouldn't willingly split their group up for something like that. Following the direction her note left, he sought Rose out from the crowd finding her over by the bar. He made his way over to her before stating, "Rose, lead me to Tomoe."

"Of course, right this way," Rose obliged.

They exited the double door that they had originally used to enter the banquet hall and merged into the main hallway where he had kissed Sakura earlier. An unwelcome rage began to boil in his blood, and try as he might to squelch it he cursed himself for leaving Sakura alone with Tomoe despite his knowledge of the man's abilities.

He followed Rose down the hall and they entered the third door on the left to find that they had entered a pretty large room that had a large table in the center of it with chairs all around it, where Tomoe was sat at the head of it. Sakura and Hinata were nowhere in sight.

"Sasuke, thank you for joining me," Tomoe stated as though they were old friends meeting up for dinner.

"Where are they," Sasuke asked. Every bit of his rage dripping from his words as he moved towards Tomoe.

"Ah, I wouldn't come any further if I were you. I hold the cards in my hand, it would be wise of you to learn the rules of the game before you attempt to play.

* * *

When Sakura came to, she found herself restrained to a chair with chakra strings. She was still weak from whatever Tomoe had injected her with, and she dedicated her remaining strength and chakra to attempting to metabolize the drug quickly so that she could break out of her restraints. Her henge had dropped when she lost consciousness and her hair fell in pink waves around her. She was in an empty room, the chair she sat in was in the center of it. One light hung about her head, barely providing enough light to make out any details of the room.

Not even two minutes after gaining consciousness, Tomoe entered the room.

"Interesting, I injected you with twice the normal dose and you're already conscious. You really are the apprentice to Tsunade."

Sakura couldn't bring herself to speak, she wasn't physically able to.

"I'm going to make a great profit from you. Not to mention the profit I'll make from Hinata now that I have her in my custody once more as well," Tomoe continued. He moved so that he stood right in front of Sakura, forcing her make eye contact with him. "Enjoy these last few moments of free will, they will be your last," he said with a smile. He began to form a series of hand signs that Sakura tried to follow, but in her sluggish state she found herself unable. With the last seal formed, everything went black again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Lemon ahead, beware!**

 **Enjoy and leave a review please! Let me know what you guys are thinking so far. We're far from done with this story. I want to develop this relationship before I close with an ending I've already got planned. :)**

* * *

Sasuke didn't even begin to entertain Tomoe, letting his anger take over instead. He moved towards Tomoe so quickly that even a skilled shinobi such as him was unable to respond in time before Sasuke connected his fist with Tomoe's face.

Tomoe's body went flying backwards out of his chair and as he tried to get up Sasuke formed the signs to the Subordination Jutsu and Tomoe's face fell into a blank mask. Sasuke was at the end of his patience and wasted no time ordering Tomoe to lead him to Sakura. He followed Tomoe into the hallway once more and into a dimly lit room where the first thing Sasuke noticed was a large man looming over a smaller figure as he worked on removing their undergarments.

The man turned to face the duo as they entered the room and he was unable to process anything let alone utter a word as Sasuke's fist ran clean through his chest with a chidori. The man slumped to the ground and Sasuke didn't even spare him another glance as he moved over to the body the man had been standing over.

Sakura's hair had returned to her normal color and once again fell in the loose waves from earlier in the evening. Her dress was flung haphazardly onto the ground, the silk settling into a lump of wrinkled material. He took into account that all she had on was a pair of black lace panties, and as much as he wanted to enjoy the view a feeling of guilt overcame him.

He could have been just a minute later and that man would have had his hands all over Sakura's unsullied body, taking the firsts that were his. He had refused to admit that she was precious to him, that she meant something to him, that she was irreplaceable no matter how hard he tried to replace her. And here she was, the great kunoichi from the Leaf, reduced to a lifeless obedient shell of herself.

He didn't waste any time ordering her to stand as he slid the dress over her body once more, making sure it was secured before making the signs to release the Subordination jutsu. Sakura's mask of a face was replaced by a wave of emotions that started out confused before relief flooded her features at the sight of Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Tomoe.." she started as she looked behind Sasuke at Tomoe's unmoving figure. She didn't have time to question it as she found her head being guided to Sasuke's chest as he enveloped her in a wordless embrace. His chin came to rest on her head, allowing himself to inhale her floral scent.

Sakura was too stunned to move for a second. If she was confused before, she definitely was now. She couldn't bring herself to pull away from this embrace, even if she had questions she wanted answered. Sasuke wasn't the best at using his words to convey his emotions, but Sakura found so much meaning in this small display that she was moved to tears. They fell from her eyes uncontrollably as she wrapped her hands around Sasuke.

They fit together in a such a way that Sasuke wondered why he tried so hard to deny his feeling for the woman before him. It took the threat of another man touching her without her consent for him to understand just why that situation had pissed him off so badly. Realization came to him in another wave of guilt: he really didn't deserve her love. He had overlooked it for so long, pushed it away, distanced himself from her in order to convince himself that it was one-sided; all the while she remained steady. It was time to allow himself to be steadied, to be tied to one person in ways that he never had.

Sasuke pulled back long enough to cup her face with his hands, using the pads of his thumbs to wipe away her tears before pulling her in and slowly enveloping her lips with his own in a slow, unhurried kiss. He relished in the way this kiss felt, he was no stranger to the feeling of a kiss but this was something entirely different. Even comparing it to their kiss earlier that night was futile. This was completely different. There was no point in denying it any longer: he loved her. He loved her stubbornness, her short temper, her strong personality, but most of all he loved her loyalty. He didn't deserve her, but he supposed he had the rest of his life to try to make it up to her.

He broke the kiss to pull her back into his embrace before he decided to break the silence. "I have the jutsu. I was able to find some research in Tomoe's office and use the Rinnegan to derive the signs of the justsu," he explained.

"So Tomoe is.." Sakura began, her voice sounding small and fragile compared to her usual strength and confidence.

"Subordinate, yes."

"Where's Hinata?" Sakura questioned, pulling herself out of the haze of the moment and Sasuke's arms to focus on the mission still at hand.

"I haven't asked yet. The first thing I told him to do was lead me to you."

Sakura smiled before she noticed the dead man on the floor, a huge gaping hole in his chest where his heart used to be. She looked back to Sasuke, just now seeing his arm was covered in the man's blood. Sakura shot him a questioning look, and Sasuke just shrugged.

"I was angry. I couldn't kill Tomoe just yet so he was unfortunate enough to try to get in my way," he lied. He wouldn't tell her the truth. He would bear the weight of the truth himself, just as she had his betrayal. It didn't make them even by any means, but knowing he alone could keep this truth from hurting her was a good place to start.

"Alright, let's find Hinata and begin to release the women from the jutsu. Then we need to find out where they're hiding Kiba. We'll also start rounding the workers up as well so they can be tried and punished when reinforcements arrive," Sakura stated.

A smirk pulled at Sasuke's features, there was the Sakura he knew and loved. All business and worrying about everyone over herself once more.

* * *

They made Tomoe lead them to Hinata and Sakura found the girl some clothes before Sasuke released the jutsu. She was understandably confused, but Sakura gave her the abridged version of events leaving out the unsavory details of her treatment. Sakura explained that the group that had abducted her was also the group behind the kekkei genkai kidnappings and those girls were here tonight. She touched on the Subordination Jutsu, leaving out some of the gory details. The only lie she told was that Hinata had not been part of the auction tonight, rather Tomoe had a special buyer lined up for her. Sakura couldn't stand to think of the shame the shy girl would feel to know what had really happened to her.

They had Tomoe lead them to Kiba and Akamaru, where they found each of them in a chakra bound cage. Once they were released Sakura went over everything she had told Hinata. She laid out the new game plan, ordering Kiba to take Hinata and meet the reinforcements and lead them to the club. She explained that she and Sasuke would free the girls and keep the guests and other gang members here until they had returned. Kiba hugged Sakura before they departed and she nearly withered away from the look on Sasuke's face.

Once Kiba and Hinata took off, the pair went back to the banquet hall. Sasuke ordered Tomoe to wait outside in the hallway until they got the banquet hall under control. They took the stage as Sakura wasted to time getting the crowd's attention, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, if we could have your attention one last time we have a very important announcement to make!"

Once Sasuke was sure they had the audience's attention, he made the signs for the justu and with that the entire crowd was at their beck and call. The fact that they didn't know names didn't pose an issue, as they didn't plan on ordering the audience to do anything. They just needed them to stay put until the rest of the Leaf shinobi arrived to help.

Now that the group was pacified, they moved to each of the girls and released the jutsu. Sakura explained to each of them what had happened and that help was on the way. When Rose was released from the hold, she flung herself into Sasuke's arms and Sakura had to restrain herself from ripping the girl from him. Sasuke sensed Sakura's brewing anger, and gently pulled Rose off of him before asking her to get some clothes for the rest of the girls who had been auctioned. She obliged as she made her way upstairs.

Shortly after everything had settled down and the girls had been clothed once again, the reinforcements arrived. Sakura was immediately engulfed in a flash of yellow.

"Sakura-chan I'm so glad you're okay! Thank you for saving Hinata, you're the best kunoichi ever!"

"Hai, thanks Naruto. I couldn't have done it without Sasuke, though," she finished sheepishly.

As though Naruto had just noticed Sasuke, he exclaimed, "Teme, what are you doing here? We haven't heard form you in weeks!"

"Just a coincidence," Sasuke muttered at the use of his nickname.

Tsunade wanted a play by play of the mission, and for that Sakura and Sasuke talked to her in private. Understanding at that point why they didn't include Hinata or Kiba, Tsunade thought for a second before speaking, "Well, although it was an unexpected turn of events this really was best-case scenario. Great job, you two. You make a good team," Tsunade finished a little more emphatically than Sakura liked.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama. There's something else, we found two orphans that the group was using as bait for kidnapping the women, they're currently in my room at the Inn. I was hoping we could take them back to the village with us.." Sakura trailed off.

Tsunade's eyebrows raised at that. "Shizune will be thrilled to help with that. You women and your bleeding hearts."

Once all of the Black Shadow members (including Tomoe) and customers were in custody, Sasuke released the justu. Tsunade explained to them that they were going to be taken back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves to be tried for their crimes, the list of offences longer than Sakura cared to take note of. Before the reinforcements returned to the village, Sakura made sure to take Shizune to the Inn to entrust her with the children. They took to Shizune instantly, and Sakura felt hopeful for the first time in days.

"Are you returning to the village with us?" Shizune asked.

"Not right away, there's a couple loose ends I want to tie up before we leave," Sakura answered.

"Ah, I see. Well make sure you stop and visit us when you get back!"

"Of course!"

With that, Sakura packed the rest of her things up from the Inn and went across town to see the only person she really wanted to see right now. Her heart felt lighter than it had in years, and they just cracked a huge case and changed the course of several young women's lives. She felt good.

* * *

Arriving at Sasuke's hotel, she made her way up to the room and knocked. She was nervous. She wanted to play her cards right so that she didn't scare Sasuke off again, but their relationship had changed in ways she never actually anticipated. Sure, she had hoped for years but to have them actually happening was a different beast entirely.

She heard the lock click on the other side of the door and was met with Sasuke's handsome features before she realized that he was shirtless. Grey sweatpants clung to his hips and a towel was strewn around his neck. The blush that spread across her face was unstoppable, so she just rolled with the punches.

"Hi," she managed to squeak out. Real smooth, Sakura.

"Hello. I thought you would've returned to the village with the rest of the Leaf," he stated.

"I needed to pack up my stuff at the Inn and I wanted to get a good night's rest before I set out. Also, I remembered you had a bathtub, which I believe I've earned an evening with," she wagered, happy with how confident her voice sounded.

Sasuke opened the door wider, allowing her to step into the room. "It's all yours. Towels are in the linen closet. I was about to get something to eat, are you hungry?"

Sakura smiled, their easy conversation was comforting. "Hai, just grab me something from wherever you planned on going, I'm not picky."

"Hn," Sasuke answered as he threw the towel on the bed and slid a shirt over his head. "I'll see you later, then."

"See ya," Sakura answered as he closed the door. She let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. She was giddy. Here she was, in Sasuke Uchiha's hotel room and he was going to get her some food while she took a warm bath. Something so simple in principle, but it made her the happiest woman on the planet, she thought.

She moved into the luxurious bathroom, the monochromatic tiles and décor had a very serene feel to them. There was a large glass shower in one corner, and a large jacuzzi tub next to it. Sakura opened the linen closet next to the tub and removed two towels, one for her hair and one for her body. She turned on the water as hot as it would go, and added some of her body soap to provide a nice flush of bubbles to the tub. She closed the door to the bathroom and made quick work of her clothes before sliding into the hot water. She turned on the jacuzzi, relishing the way the jets worked out all the tension that had worked its way into her muscles over the past couple stress filled days.

After about 10 minutes, she shut the jets off and began to wash her body. Taking the same cherry-blossom scented soap that she made the bubbles with, she washed every inch of her body more thoroughly than she normally would. It wasn't very often she got to take a bath like this, so she was going to take advantage of it. She heard the hotel room door open and close once more, and her heart beat a little faster knowing Sasuke was just feet from where her naked form sat in the bath. Moving to wash her hair quickly so she could enjoy a hot meal, she froze when she heard a woman's voice on the other side of the door. Straining to hear the conversation so she could identify the person talking with Sasuke, her stomach immediately dropped when she realized it was Rose.

She couldn't make out any words of the conversation, but Rose was yelling and Sasuke was calm as usual. Feeling guilty for trying to eavesdrop, she sank into the water and washed the shampoo away. Once she was brave enough, she broke the surface of the water once more just in time to hear the hotel door close again. It took her a few minutes to gather the courage to get out of the bath, but she managed eventually. She wrapped one towel around her body and used the other one to tenderly dry her hair, not wanting to tangle the long tresses. It was at that point that she realized she left her clothes in her bag in the main room, and she mentally cursed herself.

Sighing, she opened the door and exited the bathroom. Sasuke sat on the edge of the bed, eating a rice ball when he noticed her current attire. He cocked an eyebrow, and she moved to explain, "I left my clothes out here on accident… was that Rose just a minute ago?"

"Yes."

"…." Sakura waited a second for him to continue, and when he didn't she felt the need to press even if she knew he would find it annoying. "What did she need?"

"She had some things to pick up that she left here," he offered.

Sakura's heart dropped. She knew that they had slept together, but if Rose was comfortable enough to leave things in his hotel room and Sasuke was comfortable enough to allow that to happen then they were closer than Sasuke let on. He might not have considered them to be close, but judging by Rose's outburst she definitely had.

"I see.." Sakura said. Her voice smaller than she wanted it to be, but her reaction was genuine.

"Sakura, she doesn't mean anything to me," Sasuke answered, sensing her mood.

"I believe that; but, you meant something to her. I know what that feels like.."

Sasuke felt a physical tug at her inanimate words, guilt creeping over him at the realization that Sakura held herself to the same regard as Rose. It was different, though. He used Rose to get over Sakura, well to try at least. Sakura still wasn't convinced of his feelings, and apparently she felt like he was using her. Sasuke was angry but not at Sakura. He was angry at himself for letting her feel like that.

"Sakura…" Sasuke started, but couldn't find the words to convey his thoughts and feelings. He got up and walked towards her, and she just searched his face for some type of answer as to what he was doing. Sasuke's pace was brisk as he backed her into the wall behind her before pulling her in to a kiss that was once again different from the other two they had shared. The first, had been an act. The second, a gentle way to convey unspoken words. This one, however, was needy. The force of the kiss caused Sakura to gasp, and with that Sasuke took advantage of her open mouth to deepen the kiss as he moved his knee between her legs to force them apart as he intentionally rubbed his knee against her most sensitive place. A low groan escaped her throat, and with that Sasuke pulled away from her leaving her lips swollen and her face flushed.

He looked into her bright jade eyes, searching for some sort of reaction but instead found himself thinking how beautiful she looked right now. Her damp hair fell in a mused curtain around her, beads of water still clung to her porcelain skin and the only thing covering her was a small white towel. His desire for her at this very moment was overwhelming, but he refused to relinquish control on the situation.

Moving to push a strand of hair out of her face, he made himself explain his motivations since she obviously still doubted them. "It's different with you, it always has been. I never wanted to acknowledge it, I always ran away from it. I'm done running from you, I'm never going to let you go," he explained as her eyes grew wide in disbelief.

She still didn't say anything, but her features softened and Sasuke knew that she could understand what he was getting at. Wasting no time, Sasuke hoisted her up so that she had to wrap her legs around his waist to keep her balance. This time Sakura allowed herself to pull him in for a kiss as he pressed her back to the wall once more. Sakura moved to run her hands through Sasuke's raven hair, thinking it was just as soft as she always imagined. Sasuke must've liked that, because he groaned into her mouth and she felt her desire for him begin to pool between her legs. Deciding he was wearing too many clothes, she moved to pull his shirt over his head and he leaned back from her to help her slide it off before she tossed it onto the floor. Taking full advantage of his bare chest, Sakura moved to place her hands on the hard planes of his toned abdominal muscles, sliding her finger up and over the grooves and ridges underneath his beautiful skin. Scars adorned his flesh from wounds long since healed, but they didn't dim the beauty that radiated from the man before her. Allowing her eyes to greedily drink him in, she continued to slide her hands up until she reached his neck where she allowed her arms to lazily loop around his neck.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun," she whispered.

He didn't look away from her, letting the weight of her words wash over him. For the first time in his life, he allowed himself to be loved unconditionally as he melded their mouth's together once more. Deciding he needed a better angle to work with, he pulled her away from the wall so he was bearing all of her weight in his arms. She was small, this was not a feat by any means but the squeak that emanated from her was endearing and he allowed himself to smile against her lips. He walked them over to the edge of the bed, where he let go of Sakura as she fell back onto it with a look of surprise. She couldn't react fast enough to stop her towel from unraveling, bearing her naked body to the man she has loved for years. A flush creeped over her body as she scrambled to grab the edges of the towel to pull them over her body, but Sasuke's hands grabbed hers to stop her actions.

"Don't," is all he ordered as he moved to climb over her, letting his eyes roam the soft curves of her petite body.

Sakura swallowed, secretly relishing the feeling of being ordered by him. Sasuke moved her arms above her head before holding both of her wrists with his left hand while his other moved to slide down the side of her neck and down her chest before cupping one of her pert breasts in his hand. Sakura arched her back at the new sensation, all embarrassment from being so exposed leaving as new sensations of pleasure overtook them. Sasuke used her arched back to his advantage as he moved to take the other breast into his mouth, rolling his tongue over her hardened nipple. Sakura lost it at that, a loud moan unapologetically leaving her mouth as she squirmed under Sasuke's touch.

Sasuke, pleased with how reactive Sakura's body was to him, felt himself impossibly harden even more. Determined to make this pleasurable for her because he owed her this much to not rush it, he calmed his raging desire before continuing his ministrations on her breasts.

Sakura's moans permeated the room, and Sasuke thought to himself that it was a sound he would never get tired of. Seeing the proud kunoichi reduced to a writhing mess begging for more from him was impossibly sexy. Ready to move on to the next unexplored part of her body, he released her hands before placing kisses down her abdomen and stopped as he reached the small patch of pink. Sakura's hands came down to stop him from moving further down, but Sasuke just looked up at Sakura and the look he gave her, dripping with his desire for her, caused her to drop her hands at her sides as he placed his hands on her thighs and spread her legs apart, baring her most intimate place to him.

Her soft pink folds were flush with desire, and Sasuke could see they were already dripping for him. She looked like a flower that was finally blooming, and Sasuke was the much-needed sunshine that would show her just how beautiful she could be.

He moved to slowly slide his tongue along her opening, earning another gasp and arched back from Sakura. Smiling at her response, he then worked on the small bundle of nerves at the top of her opening where he placed open mouthed kisses in varying levels of pressure. Sakura was writhing underneath him and he could feel her juices seeping from her opening as he continued his work. Once he was sure she was plenty wet, he slowly slid a finger inside of her warm opening, groaning at how tight, wet, and hot she was around his finger. Sakura was seeing stars at this point, her head thrown back into her pillow at the new sensation. Sasuke pulled his finger almost all the way back out before sliding it back in, repeating this action while he continued his work with his tongue. He added another finger and picked up the pace, and in no time she was shaking as her body achieved orgasm. Sakura was overwhelmed with pleasure as her walls pulsated around Sasuke's fingers.

He didn't stop until she had begun to come down from her peak, and at that point he slid his sweatpants down and onto the ground before moving so that he was on top of Sakura once more, bearing his weight with his arms as he used his knees to keep her legs open to him. He took her lips into a kiss once more before gently moving his member to her entrance, sliding it up and down her slit to cover it in her juices before slowly sliding inside of her. The heat and tightness around him was almost too much at first, and he remained still to prevent himself from coming right then and there. Sakura felt no pain, Sasuke took his time to make sure she was well-prepared. She was overcome with a sensation of fullness, the connection of having their bodies together in the most intimate way possible made her see stars once more.

Sasuke began to move, slowly at first. Pulling himself out before sliding back in and each time he did so Sakura felt a new pulse of pleasure. His pace quickened as he pulled Sakura's left leg over so that she was laying on her side and he was between her legs. It granted him access to take her more deeply and he was quickly losing his grip on his control as his release approached quickly. He leaned back over her once more, pressing their lips together in a final hot embrace. Sakura was nearing her second orgasm as well, her moans melding with Sasuke's as they approached release together. Sasuke's pace was erratic as he finally lost himself as her walls contracted around his member, milking him of every last bit of his release.

As they came down from their high, Sasuke rolled off Sakura and moved to lay behind her so that they were both laying on their sides and he was spooning her. Several minutes passed as he held her like that while they caught their breath.

Sasuke was the first to break the silence, "Sakura."

Sakura turned her body so that she was facing him now, "Hmm?" was all she managed to get out, still overwhelmed with what just transpired.

Sasuke brought his hand up and tapped her forehead with his index and middle fingers before pulling her close to him once more so her head was cradled against his chest, "I love you."


End file.
